After reading Uri's letter I thought maybe just maybe there will be an honest arab reaction showing some decency and humanity and seeing the truth and able to comment from their hearts behind the anonimity of the internet, some decency ....anything? But NO, they remain true to their vile selves even behind the screens imagine out in the open they would behave as the rabid dogs of Ramallah who tore 2 soldiers with theyre bare hands holding up their bloodied hands with pride. For this after all is their pride a blood lust of Jews no matter how old. Bottom line your barbarism doesnt change you just now have the internet. You have no future as a people. When the oil runs out, the earth will swallow you up or vomit you out.

Lebanon is artificial, Syria is artificial, Iraq is artificial. All created by the west. Israel is eternal, long before the Arabs, and will be around long after the arabs. Keep believing your propaganda, thats all it is. Even Kuntar had a Nazi salute. REad the Hamas charter. Sounds like something from a Nazi manual. Kill Jews behind every rock and tree. Israel is 20% Arab with equal rights. Jordan Palestine is 0% Jewish with laws banning Jews from citizenship. These are facts. Cancel Palestine. Create peace. Stop dealing with fiction, but facts.

When Israel does something where civilians are killed, there is regret. When monsters like Kuntar kills a child by smashing her head he gets a national day? Thats a sick culture. As Golda Meir says, when Arabs love their children more than they love killing Jews there will be peace. Unfortunately, it shows that day has yet to arrive.

... perhaps might be correct somehow (at least from a Lebanese perspective) – shouldn't we ask the question how to change this very "nature of the Middle East"? There's absolutely no reason for any battles or hostilities between Israel and Lebanon – they have no dispute. But there is a Shiite militia, Hisbollah, which propagates an ideology of antisemitism and hatred. Hisbollah is the problem – which is the armed servant of Iran!! While hatred makes blind and every side is happy about damage done to the "enemy" – the fact remains that a psychopathic killer like Kuntar should never be celebrated by civilised people (no matter which religion they have). Finally, it seems that often the Arabs see peace as ALL or NOTHING. But I think peace will come only step by step. The Lebanese shouldn't worry about "the Palestinians" but worry about "their own business". They have no real problems to deal with Israel. So Lebanon as well as the UAE should make peace with Israel now (I'm aware that Lebanon is largely controlled by Iran and Syria). The more countries make peace with Israel – the more the Israelis can relax, the more their fears will disappear and they can eventually afford being more generous with the Palestinians... While the Palestinians won't get all they wish...

I am deeply offended by statements made in this article such as "we certainly have a big dispute when it comes to your moral boundaries". You are stereotyping all Lebanese as lovers of terrorsts. When Hasan Nesrallah announced that he is holding Israeli soldiers body parts, the first crticism came from Lebanese leaders such as former president Jumayyel, it did not come from your leaders. Yet you considered him as a man with "no morals" . Be certain that the majority of the Lebanese people did not feel proud when the four Hezbullah terrorist returned alive to lebanon because in few months if not weeks they will be killing Sunnis, Druze and Christians. We preffer to have seen them come back in cofins and consider them martyrs. Uri does not remember the fighting in Beirut and the Mountains early this summer when they were invaded by Hizbullah.

in the middle of the night from HER BAD! then dragged the toddler a couple of miles! then Kuntar repeatedly beat her on the head with the butt of his rifle and stomping on her body, until blood rushed out of her ears and mouth. Then, to ensure she was dead, Kuntar continued beating her over the head until her skull was crushed and she was dead Now, ALL of "Hezballastinians" are one big collective Samir Kuntar! Child killing MONSTERS!

your teachers and rabbis teach you? because that is not the islam we are living. i invite you to Turkey to learn a thing or two about islam. may i also remind you that when jews were massacred in Spain and later in Germany Muslim Turkey was the first to accept and protect you. if islam was as you so ignorantly described, there would have no jew left on earth by now considering at most of jews lived under muslim countries rules for hundreds of years without fear and injustice.

The fact was that in Qana 1 Hizb'allah puposely shot off artillery next to that camp containing civilians in the hopes that the IDF (sadly and regrettably) did indeed do. Qana 2 the civilians were hiding in shelter filled with explosives and next to a rocket launcher! And the IDF fell into the trap again! Hizb'allah purposely is putting civilians next to there weaponry so that when Israel attacks it's a no win situation. But the fact is that Hizb'allah bears FULL responsibility for both Qana's and the fact that they used it for propaganda value.

I don't celebrate Kuntar's return. I never did, you just love to assume that because I'm Arab I hate you and cheer when Jews die. How sad. Your blind faith that "All Arabs hate us!" is the same kind of insiduous propaganda that you accuse the Arabs of! All this talk of moral superiority simply reeks of pathetic hypocrisy. As for blood-for-matza crap: where did you get that from? I don't even know what matza is! I'm not saying the Arabs don't kill each other either or have their internal problems, but please, stop trying to convince us that you are "oh so purer than white!" You're the ones crying about how the entire Arab world is at war with you, so the soldiers were captured "DURING WARFARE"! Interesting how you have to put words in my mouth to justify your points. Regardless, you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince you of anything. I now realise what a waste of time this has been. Good day...

Israel should have MADE SURE the soldiers were ALIVE before freeing Kuntar from his comfortable jail cell. If there is , basically, no negotiations and basic demands on the Israeli side, why shouldn’t the Hezbollah celebrate? It IS a victory because the Israelies are STUPID !!! They are not celebrating the return of a child killer, they are celebrating the growing weakness of Israel. Israel has the best army but is afraid to use it. Israel apologizes every time it protects its own citizens (Arabs among them!). Israel has the BEST jails for terrorists and no death penalty for terrorists and convicted killers. SO....give me one reason why the Arabs should not celebrate the fall of the only non-Muslim democratic state in the region...!!!

It is so hipocrate to read such a thing, when the israeli army kills almost everyday un-armed children or women in palestine or every couple of months/years in Lebanon' just from the idea of defending our existance... I am a lebanese who believes in peace but one i see such messages i think maybe hizbullah and Mr. Kuntar are the solution... Too sad to make it appear like this... please view the whole picture and for once put urself in our boots...

That was when Hizbollah intentionally fired mortars at Israel, while hiding inside a UN refugree camp, just for the purpose of using them as human shields. Israel didn't even know there was a refugee camp over there, fired back, and 100 refugess were killed. Afterward, the Hizbollah joyfully danced on their blood. This was exactly what they wanted. Do you think that was intentional? Of course not. What did Israel gain from this? Obviously nothing. And yet, Israel still apologized. How can you put that on the same level as brutally and obviously intentionally smashing the skull a baby girl? And never showing any remorse? Don't offend our intelligence. There is no comparison.

It is a known fact, preserved in the police records of the British Mandate, that Begin's Irgun left a warning to vacate the King David Hotel, and also made a small diversionary blast outside the hotel to draw people away from the hotel. Nearby buildings were also warned, and were promptly evacuated. The wing of the hotel which was targetted by the bombing was used by the British military, and it was the where the Mandate records were kept. The Irgun was trying to destory those records, not the personnel. Still, I do not support the King David Hotel bombing, as I believe it was a reckless high-risk act likely to result in casualties. Nevertheless, why Arabs would despise Begin is simply beyond me. He was a man of peace, who returned the entire Sinai to Egypt, and dismantled Jewish settlements there, for peace. I guess that is not enough for you.

Turkey was the first to save Jews in Germany? What a crock of nonsense. Turkey officially closed its borders to Jews during WW2, and even signed an a treaty of friensdship with Germany in 1941. Remember 'the Struma'? So what are you talking about? And if Moslem Turkey is so humane like you say, why don't other Moslem societies try to emulate it, instead of regressing to the Dark Ages? Get in touch with reality, instead of catering to your vast ego and national sensitivities. If your country can deny a genocide committed against Armenians, it can also exaggerate how well Jews have been treated under Islam. But the truth is coming out. Islam is NOT the religion of peace.

"I am a lebanese who believes in peace but one i see such messages i think maybe hizbullah and Mr. Kuntar are the solution." This is what the Lebanese said decades ago when they invited the Syrian army into Lebanon, and look what happened since then. Maybe the outside world could help save you from the Syrian army. But it will never save you from yourselves. If you think this is the solution, bon courage, my friend!

When Arabs had the upper hand in this conflict, they were more than proud to embark on massacres and expulsions of Jews "that would be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades", as the Secretary General of the Arab League said in 1948. Now that Israel has the military edge, it is showing surprising, and some would say suicidal, levels of restraint. But even that restraint has its limits.

I'm sick and tired of you leeching around on-line Israeli newspapers you disgusting anti-Semite! You are mentally ill because you constantly post hatred of Jews specifically on Israeli newspapers! And no--I don't want to hear your defense! One post is enough, two is sickening but you are everywhere, posting everyday, every month and every year--that's the epitome of an obsessive mind! You sir, are one sick and obsessive compulsive anti-Semite! And I have no doubt that you're also sexually frustrated due to your upbringing, thus the only way you can get a hard-on is to post your anti-Semitic garbage! What a wonderful person you must be!!!

There's an old saying, you are what you eat; the same thing can apply to you're education! Obviously your education is based on an Islamic screwed version of the world, otherwise known as garbage-in and garbage-out! You can't think for yourself, all you can do is to repeat propaganda: the Jews are Nazis, there was no holocaust, the IDF are baby murders, etc. The reason why you're unemployment in France is because you have no skills and you can't reason! If you really think Israel and the IDF are no better than an Islamic terrorist that smashed a helpless baby's skull with a rock than you're brain dead! You're unable to construct any logically argument thus you've lost your humanity! The only thing you're good for is cannon fodder, loosing your life by following the next Islamic leader that declares a full scale jihad against Israel!

From many of the talkbacks on this post it just confirms ,Uri,what Israel has to contend with. You can at least be the voice of truth and reason against the tide of denial in Israel's own distorted communications system.That may be your important destiny.

how many Hizbelah fighters were located in the imediate vincinity with rocket lanchers? by the geneva convention that is concidered a war crime to use the local populace as a shield,,,, if an enemy is launching rockets at you from wherever it becomes fair game & if there is civians nearby there will more than likly be colateral casuaties ... that is the hazard of war.... The IDF does its best to do precision strikes to limit civilian casuaties....but it willnot let unchalenged hizbelah units to continue to use those positions with impunity .... it is Hizbelahs responsibiliy to be sure civilians are evacuated safely from the area before using it as a military position

This is best email that if ever rceived ......

Uri I perfectly understand your anger in writing this article and if I was in your shoes I would have said worse. In all fairness to all the Lebanese people, I think you should rename your article Letter to the Lebanese people WHO WERE CELEBRATING (and not the entire Nation) Death is the same regardless of what side of the border it occurs. My deepest condolences to the families of the soldiers and the Israeli nation. We have been mourning since 1975 we know what it is like...

Usually, I read most comments before I post my own. And sometimes, I admit, I read some comments even before I read the column to which they are addressed. This time, I did something different. I read the "Open Letter" first, and then began reading the comments, in order. What a farce! The thesis of the column is that the enemy is so fundamentally different, that its leadership is so fundamentally corrupt, and that its moral values are so devoid of humanity, that they choose to celebrate, as a national hero, the return of a child killer. This thesis is, of course, accurate and proven by the first several comments that I read from persons (I use that term charitably) who, instead of contritely recoiling in humiliation, defend their actions and cast blame upon Israel. Pray tell: If these animals are as alleged, and surely they are, then it is shear lunacy to write an open letter to them with the naive expectation that any feelings of shame or remorse might follow. To such demons, the sword and the hangman's noose is the only script that will be understood.

you had better address your comments to those concerned ie huzbala and its cronies or hostages in fact all of lebanon is hostage whether people want it or not. saddam asad and fanatics like stalin execise absolute control on the victim nations dig

thank you well said and honest

shut up! just shut up! and before you open your mouths again think what your empire did in the Balkans for 500 years. You even maintained Palestine (including your third most holy sites in Jerusalem) as the most squalid and backward province in your empire. Just because Ataturk dragged you out of misery and you have acquired a veneer of civilization does not change your past. And for the record: 1) all the Israeli children wrote on those shells was Greetings for Nasrallah. 2) Muhammad Dura was not shot by the IDF. He might not be dead at all. And Gimpel in J'burg - is it true that an Afrikaaner emigrating to Australia raises the IQ in both countries? Does the same formula apply to NZ as well ?

of any war crimes. The Court of Opinions in the Arab street doesn't count. I wish the who Sabra and Shatilla affair would go on trial. What the world would hear is about how the PLO/Fatah took out their anger on the Lebanese Christians by bombing their social halls, The Sabra and Shatilla massacres were revenge. The only thing Sharon could be found guilty of is not stopping it.