this "All for One" notion is romantic but definitely not self-less, lauded by the "Three Musketeers". Israel was won back by many Jewish blood and tears, shed by the spirit of "One for All": One will sacrifice to save a whole platoon, or One will give up the chance to be save under captured so that no one will use that soldier to kill more soldiers. i salute the Leaders that put down their pride and faced off expectations / criticism from world-view and stand painfully firm refusing to reward the evil by releasing unrepentant criminals. Many say Bibi & Co, is doing the most difficult decision in releasing criminals. No, i say Bibi is doing the easiest way out by releasing criminals! the most difficult decision is saying No to Hamas, against your heart's agony in letting your son stay behind, your heart want to release but your mind tell you it's wrong to do. then you painfully reject Hamas, this i say is True Leadership!

The overseas media is incredulous that ONE Israeli soldier can be exchanged for so many terrorists. I think that YNet has is correct to say that Gilad is 'everyones son'. We can all see both sides but we cannot bear to see the Shalit family endure such torture. We all daven that these terrorists will not resume their attacks on Israel.

it is worth recalling that within Israel, certainly within its Jewish majority, the notion of a stranger is remote," "When Israelis say they view the seized soldier, Gilad Shalit, as their own son, they mean it." If true why so many berieved families objecting to the return of their son?

Israelis value life, its enemies value death...Two very different cultures. While Gilad is OUR child...the one thousand terrorists are probably planning how to blow up themselves in the sowing of terror...sickos one and all...

AND WHO PAID THE BILL??????????? NO ONE ASKED THAT....................................

the Medias moves the hearts of world wide readers and viewers, which then in turn used by World-wide Leaders to sway their own country-men to protest! Bibi beside succumb to massive public demands staged by shalit's family and leftists supporters, BiBi also take into considerations the expectations of other nations' Leaders and criticisms. especially when the Shaltis bring their plea to world-wide, it's no longer contain within Israel! so BiBi find the easy way out by pleasing everybody from within Israel to without Israel. this is a cheap easy-out decision. "All for One" should be done All go into Hamas and fight and save Shalit, then everybody diead saving him, not just sign a paper and release all revenge filled-hearts criminals!

If the Washington Post thinks that the efforts to bring home Gilad were only attributable to a sophisticated PR campaign, they're completely ignorant of Israeli culture and Jewish values. Jewish people around the world began speaking up for Gilad's release within hours of his capture -- well before any PR campaign was mounted. It was this grassroots effort that resulted in the PR campaign, not vice versa. Celebrities were not "enlisted;" they volunteered to lend their voices because -- like all Israelis -- they couldn't accept the possibility that Gilad would not be brought home.

what will be said when some of the prisoners will commit terror and killings will it be said it was worth doing the deal what will the people who pushed for this feel

AP NEVER, NEVER, NEVER gets it right...NEVER...

But this "solidarity" stops at Israel's roads, where nearly every week 10 or more people get killed and many more wounded, always by ONE reckless driver and no one cares. No public campaigns or media spin here.

Once the Israeli government announces clearly that from now on, each abduction will result in 10 terrorists' death penalty,I mean those who still remain in jail, Gazastan members will understand the message.

To prevent such a 'deal' from happening again after another Israeli is kidnapped, Israel needs to legalize the death penalty for terrorists, and should no longer take terrorists alive. Not only has Netanyahu endangered Israeli lives by his decision, he has also weakened Israel in the eyes of her enemies, and has proven that terrorism pays.

B"H The institutional issue is that in Israel the President can abuse his power to pardon. As hundreds of hardened Arab terrorists with life sentences on their heads walk out of prison, the problem clearly needs to be fixed.

Yes, a successful campaign that will probably make its way into the syllabus for Mass Psychology. Mission accomplished: Shalit is everyone's family. However, we do not know the names or families of the Israelis the freed murderers will kill. So we cannot identify with them. One thing I do know. All the Israelis who support the present deal think that the future victims will be from somebody else's family.

This has silenced the internal problems which Bibi and the rest of the gov't doesn't want to deal with. Heard anything about it recently? All of a sudden do people have houses and can pay rent and still buy food?

#4 EST Miami USA I assume that you just don't understand Israel or Jews; nor do you understand the difference between murder and killing. The same Israelis that anguish for the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, are outraged at the exchange of "pardoned" hamas murderers of unarmed Israeli civilians, women, and children. There is an answer to this quandry. EXECUTE ALL those that have murdered civilians in cold blood. If a miltary target is aimed at, but some civilains are killed that is a different matter. moshe

Most Americans, more then 95% have no clue who Bowe Bergdahl is. He is an American soldier CAPTURED, not abducted from the battlefield in Afghanistan. He is a Prisoner of War, not the Lindbergh baby snatched from his cradle. To characterize his as the Lindbergh baby is to denigrate his service in the US armed forces. The US is at war in Afghanistan and is occupying parts of the country. Capture is part of the risk of war. The US was attacked on 9-11 in a scheme hatched in Afghanistan. So we invaded Afghanistan and arranged the overthrow of their Taliban government. The Taliban is fighting back. In 67, Israel invaded Gaza and occupied it until 2006. Since then There has been a siege of Gaza. Both are acts of war. Some people in Gaza decided to fight back. That happens in war. Gilad Shalit was on duty enforcing the siege. he was captured on the battlefield. When countries go to war, they put their entire populations at risk over their own territory as much as anyplace they are making war on. Sitting in Lewiston, in the USA, I am as much at risk as any Afghan under occupation. That is the reality of war. It is one reason to avoid war or end it before the enemy becomes as capable as one's own country.

Just pay your tax, and soon you will understand why US aid to Israel will keep americans safe

While I understand your outrage, you need to know that the Herew language is not at all as rich as the English language. In short, in Hebrew, there is only one word for the English words "captured, snatched, abducted, kidnapped, carjacked, taken" and probably more I haven't thought of.... So Americans should not try to put some kind of spin on the Shalit deal as if we made Gilad something more than he was. He SHOULD HAVE BEEN, in American parlance, a prisoner of war, but gee actually was not since his captors did not allow visits by the Red Cross and in over 5 years of capture, there was only one communication as sign of life. So, if you consider the nuances, Gilad was more of a kidnap victim in American parlance, since we did not know where he was, no neutral organization was allowed access, and nobody knew if he was alive. If ALL this is also true for captured American soldiers in Afghanistan, then perhaps you should start referring to your soldiers as "kidnapped" also....

Whoever believes for a nanosecond that it was "PR efforts" that released Gilad Shalit was born a minute ago. There are STILL bumperstickers in Israel to free Ron Arad, who has been in enemy hands for 27 years. That is not plucking at heartstrings - those are bumperstickers FOR RON ARAD. And the families of OTHER missing Israeli soldiers have not stopped for a minute in trying to find out the fate of their sons. No, Americans (that is, those who are not soldiers) are children who cannot understand a simple concept "no soldier left behind". The world - and the lax Israeli justice system that does not allow the death sentence or life-without-amnesty - has forced Israel into the untenable and untraditional position of releasing murderers to get one soldier back.