At random, pick 100 from the Hamas list. Kill them. Tomorrow, kill 100 more. Continue through the list. Will Hamas kill Shalit? Of course. But they will lose the exchange. Will there be an outcry? Of course. But there will be respect.

the killing in Cast Lead was also at very random to include mostly civilians.

meant as a response to "Matty" who requested that I, in turn, respond to him. My response was a summary of a response I had already written to him on the subject during the past week. Some of you may remember it. In essence, one has to understand the act of torture within the proper social context. If it's necessary to catch a provacateur who is about ready to blow up the London Tube with all its civilian passengers riding in it and the man who is knowledgeable and familiar with this provacateur has been caught by the police, there is no dilemma. The prisoner must be forced to reveal the information by any means possible in order to discover who the provacateur is and identify where he is located. As we know, Israel, due to the perilous situation it is in, due to the hateful nature of its enemies, may feel coerced, from time to time, to force the information out of one or a group of prisoners. It's not nice; it isn't genteel; but every man who has ever fought in a dirty war completely understands what I am talking about. If the choice is between saving one's own people and playing according to the fair "rules of war", I unequivocally choose the former. Hamas and its associates knowingly places us in this unhappy situation, sacrificing the health and life of its own operatives in order to cast shame on Israel (see Goldstone Report) in the international community.

Arn-Orao you have just wasted your time as I don’t read posts from people who use All Caps. Matty Groves , Fairport (11.24.09) THANK YOU FOR WASTING YOUR TIME TO INFORM ME ABOUT THIS !!!. Arn-Orao.

we are the Jewish people. We are not just any people. We cannot sacrifice Gilad Shalit for the majority's safety. He also deserves safe keeping. We have to go for what is known as opposed to what is not known for certain yet. We will just have to be super-vigilent, every one of us, and on alert at all times against these amoral terrorists who will attempt to use this tool again. "Prevention is worth a pound of cure". This is the only humane way to look at it.

The Arabs are waging a war of extermination against the Jews. If you took a vote and asked them if they were willing to sacrifice 10000 dead and eliminate Israel, their answer would be yes. In similar conflicts, 1500 dead is very low and far below what the Arabs would be willing to sacrifice for victory. The secret is that casualties bring them gains. Since the Oslo agreements in 1993, Israel has continuously retreated while the Arabs have increased their demands. Face it, Mordechai Kedar is right, Israel is losing big time and will cease to exist thanks to its leaders.

The argument that releasing Shalit will lead to more kiddnappings is very weak. They try to kidnap soldiers and do terror attacks all the time and they will continue to do so, regardless if this deal is finalized or not. What really needs to be done is to outlaw all terrorists who have blood on their hands and simply execute them. If we did that to Samir Kumtar 20 years ago, we could easily avoid loss of 1000s of human lives on both sides in second Lebanese war. Nobody to release - less motivation to kidnap people. As simple as that.

Before I forget I would mention that your posts would be much easier to read if you were to break the text up into separate paragraphs. Reading one long body of text does not help to define the separate points that you are making. Your claim that the Palestinian people do not share a common culture is incorrect. In truth the Palestinians have a stronger common culture than Jews. The Jews who comprise of modern day Israel all came from different Jewish cultures. For example there is a great difference between say Ashkenazim and Mizrahim Jews, each with its own variant of language, culinary preferences, liturgical practices, religious interpretations, etc. Aside from different Jewish culture Jews are also very genetically diverse (White European Jews/Arab Jews/Black Africa Jews etc). Compared to Palestinians (who are principally Arab with a common Arab culture) Jews are a mishmash of ethnic and social groups. These cultural differences are still evident in Israel today. In short Palestinians are more homogeneous than Jews.

have had to get my head around it in order to communicate with someone who takes the name of one of my favourite folksongs and folk groups as a pseudonym for this Talkback. I've managed it but not happily.

Th question is not about comparing "Palestinians" to Israelis as that is only a diversion on your part. The point is that there is really no unique "Palestinian" culture which defines it. I've explained this in previous posts. A collective memory and collective mission would require a collective unconscious. Please go read Carl Gustav Jung on the subject!

The point I was making was simple: In an urgent situation when lives are at stake one might regretfully utilize torture as the best of a bad situation. Life does not always offer us clean choices. As to the strategy and efficacy re the use of torture, I think your comments may be true but irrelevant. As to not responding to your "hard" questions, I think your aspersions sound like those coming from a very bright youngish man who is altogether too used to holding forth in a formal college debate club as opposed to having to deal personally with real life concerns.

"So how do you like my feather bed And how do you like my sheets And how do you like my lady Who lies in your arms asleep" If you have to come here and spew your antisemitic hatred, then let's see you do it without using the Fairport Convention song "Matty Groves" as camouflage for your identity. I wonder what Fairport Convention's founder, Simon Nicol, will do to you when he finds out how you're using "Matty Groves".

Now the great, clever, Matty is telling us how to display our talkbacks. The Palestinians are a mixture of Arabs from other Arab countries.Or are you telling us that all the Palestinians come from the same country??

do you set the agenda on Ynet? Save your arrogance for the young students at your university. You've really lost all credibility on this forum.

This is a typical response I am use to, when a poster can't back up their stance or produce credible facts they deflect the discussion and launch some form of ad hominem attack. In this case Robert can't answer the questions I have posed or disprove the statements I have made so he attempts to focus on undermining me ("arrogance/lost all credibility") instead of addressing the argument/discussion. To his credit he didn't resort to childish name-calling like so many other pro-Israeli posters, however this may only be a matter of time. Either way I accept Robert's resignation. To sum up: 1) The Palestinians have a unique cultural identity and are striving for statehood. 2) The Palestinians are far more homogeneous than Jewish Israelis. 3) Robert supports torture but cannot discuss the finer points of the practice or the pitfalls. 4) Robert refuses to acknowledge that the IDF has committed war crimes by using Palestinian civilians as human shields. 5) Robert resorts to attacking the poster rather than addressing the argument/discussion. I think that is a fair summary.

mr Kedar is there many like you in israel!!! i hope the answer is yes

Big Deal.

How did I miss this genleman's article beats me.Kudos to every word,every sentence written within it. Yes KUDOS for telling it like it is WARTS AND ALL Someone with GUTS should have said it long ago,instead of pussyfooting around the subject. Thank you Mr.Keder we need more men like you...

Peace or endless war. If you are actually pursuing peace, there should be no more abductions. If you are still bent on endless war, Shalit should be sacrificed for the greater good, or more accurately the greater Israel. From the outside looking in, I have to ask what prompts the Israeli abduction of thousands of Palestinians, and whether capitulation to Israel will prompt more. Shalit is just one enemy combatant, Israel holds hundreds of women and children. The contrast is very hard to ignore.

Let's Enumerate:Vietnam,Cambodia, Gitmo, Iraq,Afghanistan. By far the greatest by the Russians,and the 2nd world war. If Matty thinks wars are won by using velvet gloves is living in a dreamland. Once the enemy is captured and information gathered through them enemies SAVES LIVES. No point being mealy mouthed about it. Facts are just that. The speciality of the Jordanians,Egyptians are so cruel that it is too stupid to even debate about "torture".Considering the terrorists who deliberately use HUMAN shields to subvert the IDF is one example,but a dirty one at that..They know Israel loves LIFE the enemy the reverse. To accuse the IDF using human shields is not only gross,but an unwarranted accusation which leads to incitement. to inflame people and thus create HATE. Matty,in future try and learn the real history,not from what you read in some dubious sites,but read and learn. END

before I go to beddybyes. The man is very good is he not eh? Wish we had more like him. Must away yaaawn uf too late. layla tov/or is it boker tov eh yafa?

here's a clue for the clueless gov't: one does not make national policy on the basis of emotion. WHY NOT SURRENDER THE COUNTRY? WHY NOT? the morons in the Israeli gov't who have convinced themselves that they must pay any price for Gilad do not have any answer to that question. that is enough to have them dismissed from office.