of other families. Which family will be the next to mourn? Will the Shalits go and visit them in their grief and pain? No they wont, for they have shown nothing but contempt for the family of Israel. Killers 100's of them will be released to kill and kill again. The Shalits represent all that is wrong with todays Israeli society. Selfish, arrogant with an inflated sense of entitlement. A soldier must know that a nation will not sacrifice itself to save him and him alone. United you stand....divided you fall. The Arabs have you on the run and indeed you are on the run.

I would prefer the family went to a Greek Island for a week before being assaulted by the media.

What a disgusting comment, Al. I also think only harm will come out of this deal but the way you talk about the Shalit family is terrible. I'm sure if something like that would happen to YOUR family, you would talk differently. I know if it was my son, God forbid, I would be willing to give back thousands as well.

The victims of terror attacks are already dead. Nothing can bring them back. Is the joy of punishing the terrorists stronger than saving the life of one more innocent victim? Tell me who is the selfish one here really?

There has been no sign for a long time. Last time they played with us and we didnt know if we would get our soldiers back dead or alive, and they came back in coffins. Are we sure he is alive?? It's good that the terrorists are being released in two batches. In a Worst case scenario - I hope and expect they wont release the second batch.

This will set the trend where Hamas and allied groups will try to capture one or two IDF soldiers and get hundreds of their compatriots released.Not a good sign.World looks upon Israel as the only nation which has so far not compromised with dangerousand killer Islamists/Arabs

celebrating their last holiday with their families?

Look around your society and see the utter selfishness ever so evident. Look how many skirt national service because of some stupid excuse. Look at the selfishness that allows foreign illegal workers to work for peanuts but refuses to hire local Jews. Take a good look around and tell me the truth. Tell me if you are proud of your society that denies its history and heritage. Tell me if this deal is one you can be proud of. Its not about the Shalits and their personnel pain..Its about the nation and its collective responsability to all of its citizens. If it were my son and I have 2 of them in Israel I too would want to have them free. I fear for my sons well being..I fret at the risk that they face each and everyday, for they could live here in Canada in relative comfort. However being the unselfish person I am, I wouldnt want others to risk their lives at my expense. I am child of holocaust survivors.I was never taught that anyone owes me anything. In sum I think this deal will bring untold misery to all of Israel. I hope I am wrong but in all probability I am afraid I will be proved right.

which is exactly why national policy must be set by a government, in the interests of the country and not by individuals seeking to satisfy only their own needs and wants. the shalit family put all of its pressure on the israeli government, rather than hamas - was that in israel's interest or just their own?

turning the fate of ONE family in a nation of some 6+ mil. into a personal matter, for everyone to judge. That is to be understood, knowing Israeli media's almost subversive role. What is unforgivable, is that the government went along with it. As somebody else noticed, Netanyahu (or any other PM) have to act as a father to ALL of us! Bad, bad decision in a tough situation. This could've been done 1,2,3,4,5 years ago! Why do we always have to end up being let down by our own government? That's why I gave up voting ... pity.

this is proves that although one israeli family will rejoice 1027 other families are feeling the exact same way the shalits are. Hopefully this conflict will come to an end soon in a peaceful manner so that no israeli or palestinian mother has to go through what these 1028 total families went through, and the only deaths they see will be caused by natural causes

I, for one, am very proud and honored to have such a PM take on a very difficult decision. Bibi did the right thing, especially because he knows what it is to lose a family member, as he stated last night. Whether or not the exchange is "fair", it wouldn't have mattered. A hundred, a thousand, or more terrorists is just a mere number. This world is FILLED with terror - and who's to say that an attack wont happen anywhere else? Just because Israel is releasing 1000 terrorists, doesn't mean another 100,000 don't exist already and live amongst us in the world. How many POWs does America have and families have no choice but to mourn their loved ones because it's "illegal to negotiate with terrorists"? Where's the humanity in THAT government? It was a bittersweet decision, but it had to be done. Even families of fallen victims, knowing that those terrorist who killed their loved ones would be released, agreed that Gilad should be freed. He became everyone's son, everyone's brother. And we are waiting for him with open arms, praying for his safe return home, hoping that he is unharmed and well. The world has a lot to learn from this.

I am in favor of Gilad being released BUT I have a son the same age and My son remarked to me today that if it was him, he would not be able to live with being released in return for over 1000 terrorists. I wonder what Gilad thinks about this, and how he will handle this if there are future terrorist attacks with many Israeli citizens dead, by the hand of those released. Could be that he too would rather rot in jail than live with that, who knows?

Congratulations to the Shalit family. Congratulations to the families of the soon to be freed terrorists who will spend the rest of their lives with their loved ones, supported with a monthly pension of American money from Abbas as reward for having murdered Jewish children. Congratulations to Hamas that proved that if you wait long enough you can defeat Israel. Congratulations to Netanyahu who will get a few days of respite from incessant media attacks and maybe even a positive report. As for the rest of us? Pray that your child won't be one of the thousand who will be murdered thanks to the Shalit deal.

I believed that God made the decision. God used his instrument ( parliament) and blest them with good heart by considering the situation.Well of course there are always reactions because there's such no perfect. Shalit family deserve Gilad to be back home after 5 years of unconditioned way of life. It's now time for everyone to unite and continue our hope for the success. For the soldiers, you are all heroes ..I believed you learn a lot.be vigilant... Let not this situation happen again the next week or the next year...long live Israel.

One IDF soldier is worth all of our possible future suffering is what's wrong with Israeli society! Your selfish inability to understand that Gilad Ben-Aviva Shalit needs to be home and that we (ALL OF THE CITIZENS of the State of Israel) want to have him home, your selfish inability smacks of right wing bloodthirsty rhetoric! In other words be silent! Trust G-d! Trust the IDF and all will be well!

He will never be the same again, if he is not, return them the same way.

You have nicely put into words what my thoughts were for some time now. I'm not particularly angry with the Shalits, but I despise people, who support them. Those people are not acting out of compassion with Gilad, they are projecting the tragedy of a guy, who's been thrown into a hole, into their own destiny and demanding a price be paid for him as should be paid for them. A price, which is unbearable by any civilised standards: you don't go and demand a small children's skull be smashed in order to get your sonny boy out of a mess. But the real tragedy is, what that really means: the end of the state, day one. We've seen this in Lebanon 2006 and we see it today: Israelis have given up. There is no soul in the nation, ready to fight for its survival. It's gone. And as you rightly said: they are on the run. On the run, hoping somebody please stop chasing me, because I'm fed up with figting and I'm also fed up with running.

You know nothing, zilch, zero. We dont need your negativity.

The more you worry about your 2 sons, the more you talk about their impending danger, the more bad vibes you are projecting upon them. Learn to trust your sons' judgements, learn to trust the IDF & above all learn to trust in G*d.

No amount of pressure from the Shalits laid at the door of Hamas would have helped one iota. Wake up will you. Have you ever tried dealing with a terrorist organization??

You are taking a terrible beating today on this forum .You have a point,Israel capitulated and paid a stupid price for the shalit familys' selfishness ,but as for your constant vitriol .please give it a rest.

no harm will come to you or yr family !

All of you who wrote about the terrorist ramifications of letting 1000 of Arabs go miss the point entirely. You dont realize that our twisted Arab "cousins" will continue their terrorism regardless of who remains incarcerated--recall the Fogel family? their murders are perfect example of the senseless, unanticipated and illogical terrorist attacks we suffer irrespective of who is incarcerated

If Gilad goes back to serving his country as a soldier and somehow gets caught again, then what happens? I say to Hamas, this time demand for thousands of palestinian prisoners to be released not hundreds. One thing we will always be sure of, is the capitulation of the Israel government, no matter how loud they shout from their comfy knesset seats. They will eventually capitulate. Viva Palestine!