Yair Lapid
Photo: Yoni Hamenachem
Hizbullah unloading the coffins
Photo: Reuters
We’re different than them
Who the hell wants to be like Hizbullah when it comes to soldiers’ lives?
We always want to divide the world into two sides: Good guys and bad guys, losers and winners, those who are right and those who are wrong, those who yell on the radio and those who yell even louder. Yet this time around we cannot do that.
The prisoner exchange deal that was completed on Wednesday was neither good nor bad; it was merely necessary. Those who think there were other possibilities available to us are fooling themselves.
The State of Israel did not send Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser a polite letter asking them to report for military reserve duty; it sent them an official order instead. The Americans can afford not to engage in talks with terrorist because their soldiers always have the option of staying at home and opting for a job at McDonald’s.
Goldwasser and Regev received a brown envelope from us in the mail with an explicit order to report for duty and risk their lives. The moment this envelope was sent, the State took an obligation upon itself for their fate – it is an obligation that cannot be forfeited.
Most countries in the world are a non-profit organization – their residents unite under one flag for reasons of convenience or habit. Israel cannot and does not wish to be this kind of state. There is no equanimity whatsoever in its relationship with its citizens. We are talking about love, with all the pain that love entails sometimes.
No reason for criticism this time
Hizbullah engaged in the negotiations with us while understanding all our weaknesses; yet it failed to realize that on some occasions weakness is strength. Every Israeli knew the soldiers were dead, yet every Israeli became choked up when he saw the two black coffins.So it is indeed true that Hizbullah is more calculated than us when it comes to the fate of its people, but who the hell wants to be like Hizbullah? The loud debate on whatever we “got a good deal or not” would be better left to the used car business.
Even in our hyperactive democracy, where everyone who sits in the stands believes he knows more than the coach, we are allowed to sometimes assume that the right decision has been taken.
Such deals, by their very nature, are complex, take a long time to complete, and are replete with details that are hidden from view. Even those who are issuing scathing criticism at this time are secretly thanking God for not having to make this decision themselves. Our battered government is already accustomed to being criticized, regardless of what it does. This time, there is no reason for criticism.
