Ted Belman
The proper equation here is not how many prisoners should we release to get Shalit back but rather how many Israeli lives are we prepared to forfeit in the future to get Shalit back now. Based on past experience, it could run into the hundreds.
Israelis know this, yet support the short term gratification. Why would they do this? To my mind it is as a result of the constant drumbeat emanating from the Left made up of academia, media and politicians, for the last five years, arguing for his release. Israelis were easy prey so were the politicians that voted for the deal.
And thus to a large extent the Left is to blame for the long term pain which is sure to follow. The same goes for any concessions Israel makes in the peace process. The whole peace process brought upon us by the Left and continuously nurtured by them has been enormously detrimental to Israel. Although the public is steeling its spine, the left continues to weaken the resolve of Israelis to say “no”.
The present Government is all we have to protect us from this insanity. The government has a mandate to be tough even when the public has gone soft. Unfortunately it went soft when it supported this deal, knowing it was not in Israel’s best interest to do so. It also went soft when it accepted the the two state solution. It continues this path with its insistence in maintaining the negotiations. In both instance Bibi is to blame.
When Bibi turned his back on his right wing support when he formed his government, we saw the hand writing on the wall. He invited Labour to join his coalition and invited a know liberal, Dan Meridor, to join Likud. There is no question Bibi did this because he wanted to govern from the center.
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