Eitan Haber
Photo: Shalom Bar Tal
The prisoner’s dilemma
State of Israel faces difficult moral dilemma over Gilad Shalit affair
We have before us the Israeli dilemma with all its cruelty. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
was very much correct when she said
recently that it is not always possible to bring our soldiers back home, hinting that the State cannot give too much in order to bring back one soldier.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak
was also correct when he said,
over the weekend, that when a soldier is alive in captivity, Israel
has a supreme moral obligation to bring him back home alive and well through every proper and possible move. Not at any price, but through any proper and possible move.
Commitment
Ahiya Raved
Army chief stresses commitment to Shalit's release in wake of controversial Livni remarks
For 903 days now, the State of Israel’s leaders are debating the question of what to do and how to bring Gilad Shalit back home at a low price. However, Hamas knows this is the most sensitive spot of the State of Israel so it demands a very high price, in the form of the release of hundreds of the greatest murderers, the ones who led all the major terror attacks of the past decade.
Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak, and all other government ministers are on the same side: Had they been able to do it, they would not make a swap for the captive Israeli soldier, as not to face the relatives of terror victims a day or two later; both past terror victims, and future terror victims.
However, the State of Israel set an important principle even before Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak were among the group of Israeli decision-makers.
Many years ago already, dozens, hundreds, and thousands of prisoners were traded in exchange for a few Israeli soldiers, because this is the way we are. The ancient statement that whoever preserves a single soul of Israel is said that have saved a whole world is not only a tired slogan for us. It is a reality of life.
