'At any price?' Shalit
Photo: AP
Hamas should pay the price
We should release Gilad Shalit at any price, but Hamas should be paying that price
When people around here say that we need to secure the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit at “any price,” they mean to say that we are the ones who need to pay that price; all of it.
We shall free all the murderers, allow many of them to go back to murdering us, provide terrorists with a boost, and go back to die here in buses, in malls, and at Gaza-region communities. This is both mad and immoral.
Are we truly willing to “do anything” for the sake of Shalit’s release, and at any price? If so, then starting today Israel needs to tighten the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. Nobody shall go in and nobody shall be coming out. Israel should fire and kill anyone carrying a weapon. As far as we’re concerned, several hundred terrorists can die in the coming days, while no meat and not even one bag of flour enter the Strip. They should thank us for getting water.
“Any price” means that we are still vigorously working to dispirit the Palestinians in Gaza. At the same time, or perhaps a little later, we shall engage in talks with Hamas on the release of Gilad Shalit. The terrible military and civilian pressure we shall be exerting on them will prompt them to hurry a little.
Burden instead of asset
After several dark nights, and after thousands of Hamas members flee and Haniyeh is forced to hide in his bunker like Nasrallah, they will start to realize that Gilad Shalit is not a bargaining chip, but rather, a bone stuck in their throat – not an asset, but rather, a burden.
Suddenly they will realize that we are not such suckers, but rather, a state that gets pissed off when one of its soldiers is held at some hole in Gaza while they keep on playing with us.
This is the moral, logical, and security-minded move that needs to be undertaken for the sake of Gilad Shalit and for our sake as well. It features a smaller risk than the one inherent in the release of hundreds of murderers, and it is 10 times more moral.
If we fail to change the rules of their cruel game, we will continue to be abducted and blackmailed. We need to try and release Gilad Shalit at any price, but they are the ones who need to be paying it.
