Image via Wikipedia
This is one of those rambling posts I put up occasionally. If that bothers you, please feel free to stop reading. In a briefing on Islam given to his fellow Army doctors before his shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Nidal Malik Hasan stated, “We love death more than you love life!” We need to think about that for a minute. Western civilization does not have a perfect record on loving life–we treated the American Indians badly, we treated the slaves badly, and we currently allow abortion (which kills the innocent unborn). We’re not perfect. However, generally speaking, we seek to preserve life. Sometimes we’re even a little nutty about it. We value people as individuals and seek to protect them. Unfortunately, that puts us at a disadvantage when dealing with a culture that worships death.
Yesterday Reuters posted an article stating that Israel and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip have agreed to a prisoner swap. Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit will be exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in 2006.
The article reports:
Announcing to his cabinet, and television cameras, that a deal had been signed earlier in the day, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.
“I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time, when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don’t know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future,” he said.
“It’s possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home.”
What is he saying? There is so much upheaval in the Middle East right now, and the entire area seems to be moving against Israel. As more militant Islamists take over the countries surrounding Israel and exert their power, the chances of getting Gilad back to Israel alive will grow dimmer. Again, kidnapping has proved to be a worthwhile activity on the part of those who are opposing western civilization. Iran has used it consistently to raise money. Lebanon has also used kidnapping as a weapon. In Beirut between 1982 and 1992, 96 foreign hostages of 21 national origins were kidnapped. You think we would have learned by now that this is a prime money-raising activity (and prisoner release activity) of terrorists.
I admire Prime Minister Netanyahu for making this deal. He knows as he signs the paper that he is paving the way for more terrorist attacks in Israel. He also knows that this is the only way to bring Gilad home alive. Terrorists do not play fair, and until the western world stands in unity against them, they will continue to promote death and violence.
