"As of this week there will be no reason to continue the armed struggle." Uri - you picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue. Hezbollah did not build a huge amy in South Lebanon just to get Kuntar back. They want Israel gone. Period. Time to wake up and smell the coffee, although I am willing to bet that you will keep your head in the sand.

Contrary to Misgav's pathetic reasoning, Kuntar swore to return to active jihad and married a former terror prisoner while still in prison (so much for the ethics of the Prison Authority and the legal system). Unfortunately, this won't be last Israeli civilians will hear of him (or the brood of potential terrorists he and his terrorist wife will spawn). This wretched deal is all about 2 families - not about the thousands of Israeli families who will be negatively affective by the tragic and unnecessary deal. Israel has capitulated time and again to the pleas of the affected families without regard to the wider realistic and moral implications. Misgav misses the wider picture. He is sadly misinformed.

How will this lopsided exchange prevent further abductions?

and terror from there. The writer must be from chelm the way he turns logic on it's head. All this means is the palis and hamas will try to kidnap more jews and they don't have to keep them alive because they will get what they want for dead bodies. The logic of the left is astounding

At best, a country with any resolve left at all would NEVER release Kuntar. A country with the same sense of drama as Hizb Allah or Hamas would release this crusher of a little girl's skull, let him walk ten paces toward freedom and put a bullet in his back. A country with any pride left might let him go because they agreed to, but would decorate their side of the border (the Israeli side) with huge banners depicting Kuntar and Nasrallah in ballet tutus or women's undergarmets. What has happened to israeli backbone??

Or it will give Hizballah a reason to fight. I don't think that makes much sense.

If the pablum in this article is typical of policy maker's "reasoning" in Israel these days, no wonder the country is in such dire straits. Appeasement kills. That's the only thing the political hacks in power know how to do. That's why we are in trouble.

Is shalom arshav membership required to become a ynet contributor ?

People like Mr Misgav have been so wrong for so long that they are no longer playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean. They're like the religious sects we all make fun of, you know, the guys who predict that the world will end on a given date except it doesn't. Our leftists are like these crazies on the day after, when the world didn't end as predicted. They can't admit that a life-time of belief was totally wrong & now they say just about anything, no matter how devoid of reason. People who hold beliefs that have no basis in reality - they're not clinically insane, but like I said, neither are they playing with a full deck.

The right move for Israel is to beat the Hezbullah to the ground If “the next attack on Israel is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’” we should not wait. As we have seen in the last Lebanon war, terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of the Israeli society. We should beat the Hezbullah to the ground and make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them. We stand together to win the war against terrorism. We should be prepared to fight them without any other consideration than beat them as explained at: http://xrl.us/bi3hn

I read the article twice. I don't get how releasing live terrorists for dead soldiers is a deterrent to future kidnappings. The writer is a prime example of delusional appeasers who only make future wars more certain and more deadly. Viva WWII France.

you say that we should use or head, not our gut, when making national decisions. don't you think that entering into a ridiculously lopsided prisoner deal in order to, in your words, "to put away the Lebanon failure after two years", is a very emotionally driven motivation? As a country, Israel has been tormented by the failures of that war, but making outlanding deals in order to "move on" is just dicking ourselves into a deeper hole. The noble and "nationalist" way to deal with those failures is to say to ourselves that yes, we may have made mistakes, but we are lucky to be where we are today and we will never let them get the upper hand again. sadly, with the deal that you so much support, we are continuing our downward spiral and allowing them to have the upper hand again...

Uri Misgav is not Haim Misgav. The second is a wise Jew. This author is not. He lists a series of false propaganda elements and I wonder how can he or his editors aspect anyone to believe him. The first point he raises is that Kuntar is no longer a terrorist threat, after such a long jail term. False! The fact is that we don't, we can't know for sure. At best. There were reports saying that he will return to active terrorism, to killing Jews. At worst. Then Uri Misgav who is not Haim suggests that giving Kuntar to the terrorists will satisfy their hunger for Jewish blood. False! This has never happened before and won't happen now. Giving terrorists anything, including land, conveys just one single message spelled out in big block letters: the Jews are weak. And this message is deadly. We'll see this G-d forbid in the coming weeks and months. The symbolism of this case is devastating. But what hits harder than anything is the lack of Jewish vision: we are not supposed to pay unproportional rendsoms. And the word "unproportional here stands for: life.

perhaps the world is upside, but then again, maybe it's just this editorial... israel's "failure" two years ago removed hezbollah from the lebanese government, killed two-thirds of its fighters, eliminated its base of operations south of the litany river, and destroyed nearly all of its arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles. and as a bonus, its leadership still haven't dared to crawl out of their bunker. israel should never suffer greater failures. with every prisoner exchange, arab leaders strive to outdo the previous "price" obtained from israel, and so each such "bargain with the devil" only makes the next one more attractive for the arabs, and therefore more likely. in this case, there's the additional moral dilemma of trading living terrorists for dead israelis. this makes matters worse, because it undermines the value of keeping hostages alive. it's all a very bad idea, that only makes israel less secure, and will cost israel dearly, in blood.

just as there was no justification for forcibly evicting your citizens and turning Gaza into a terror state. If/when you discover your soldiers were tortured you will look like fools (again). If I was one of those poor soldiers, I would want my Govt to destroy my captors-not appease and reward them. And what about the survivors of baby-killer Kuntar? Now, you will be "killing" them too. If he would have attacked a "prominent" family, he never would be released. It's a sad comment when "crusaders" care more about justice and your Jewish children-then your own Govt.

...and after reading it am struck by its lack of cleverness and analysis.

the only thing that will prevent future kidnappings is the death penalty for terrorists. If they are dead, there is no reason to kidnapp for thier return. And if it's bodies they want, let them take the bodies and show thier people the just end result for a terrerorist which certailnly should not be a celebration!

The ONLY way is to beat and beat and beat the enemies everytime they hurt Israel.The only solution is militar power to defeat those hurting Israel,while cleaning the country from its enemies inside. We could call it non stop prophilactic measures.

After reading this article and comparing the level of ignorance, and naivete, I must conclude that the author is maybe 9 years old or so. For certain, there are pre-teens with a more accurate outlook of the world and reality in general than whoever wrote this disgusting tripe.

Illogicla and pure rhetorical. Liberating hizballah prisonners can t be sold to israeli public as a victory for Israel. Nasrallah has said he has kidnapped israeli soldiers for that and Israel has not received a clue to the fate of Arad. The israeli army and Ehud Barak known that giving alive terrorists against two dead bodies is not a deterrent, the army is in alert in the north for the day after.... Uri, i know people forget fast but don t take people for dumbs too much... I m waiting your future articles after the new hezbollah raid and kidnapping explaining to us that it is because Israel has not given to them galil and after the "brillant retreat or redeployment of galil to have more forces" and the future hezbollah raid why it is because of zionism that there is war...

Israel has been under attack every day for 60 years now. The most peaceful times have only been when our enemies were sent home to lick their wounds and contemplate the next attack. I say it is time to send them home permanently. Arab people can show full appreciation for the graciousness and mercy of Israel or leave. Left-wing brain-donors that do not agree can leave Israel also. Arabic politicians who sympathize with our enemies should be removed from office, deported, citizenship revoked, and permanently forbidden from our soil. Retake Gaza, expel every Israel hater there. I know that means 100%. They can pack thier belonging in boxes stamped "Courtesy of Hamas" and "Izzadeen thanks you" The same goes for everything north to the Litani, courtesy of Hizbolleh. Then we start on Jerusalem. Divide the land like it was originally planned: all Arabs to East of Jordan, the Jews have everything from the Jordan to the sea. Remember THAT plan? It is the fault of the British that this situation exists, so if Egypt and Syria don't want the fake "palestinian people" then fine. Drop them off on the shores of England, where they are already a national treasure. Israel should be inhabited only by those who love the nation, and we have earned the right to defensible borders, and to live in peace and safety.

I think that the release of a child killer to lebanon will speak very very clearly of what kind of people hezbollah are. i think that the release of kuntar to lebanon will actually make many in lebanon feel a little sick. this is what they have been fighting for? a disgusting murderer who broke a child's skull? i think that giving kuntar back to lebanon is a net gain for israel. it re-exhumes his revolting crimes for the world to see, and the fact that hezbollah wants to celebrate him makes them just as revolting. its too bad that israel does not drop thousands of leaflets of pictures of the family he killed on beirut when he is released. if i was lebanese i would be very ashamed. i also hope that when hezbollah tries again, israel finishes the job that they gave up on finishing last time.

how can all the talk backs be wrong and your opinion writer be right and you still print this drivel. what is flawed about Israel that stymies visionary leadership and promotes the shameful?

Kuntar may or may not pose a future threat, but the symbolism certainly does. While Lebanon prepares for a Victory Party, Israel does not know what to prepare for, except the worst. This 'swap' insures nothing for the future, except another swap. The families of the Israeli soldiers may have some resolution to their awful ordeal, but it does not insure any security for the future, just a bad precedent.