Already in early childhood I learnt that temper tantrums get people's attention, but it's no good throwing one unless one has something important to say.
The forthcoming release of a young Israeli soldier held hostage by the Hamas leadership of the Palestinian People in return for 1027 Palestinians, judged and sentenced by Israeli courts as criminals, is definitely something to shout about.
The media is giving expression to the wave of joy which is sweeping through the land. The joy is news and Gilad's release is news but the biggest news is that criminals who have been judged as such are being released.
We in Israel consider Gilad an innocent boy, who was simply doing his duty, as a soldier defending his country. We view the Palestinians being released as criminals judged by a court of law.
In the eyes of Israelis this isn't an exchange of equals, it's not an exchange of one innocent person for another. It's an exchange of innocence for guilt. This is the thing that shocks everybody.
Every day, like a horror movie in serial form, stories appear in the media about how the Palestinians being released murdered entire Israeli families in cold blood, how they placed bombs on busses and in restaurants killing hundreds of people.
But there isn't a single word of any crime comitted by Gilad. The only story one can find about him is that he's the epitome of innocence and the prime example of a young man who is loyal to his country and was captured by these criminal Palestinians while doing his duty for his country as expected of every citizen.
Actually this is a one sided view of the exchange. A more correct view is that, in the eyes of the Palestinian nation Gilad is the criminal and the Palestinians being released in exchange for him are the innocent ones.
This view comes from the difference between the way Israel carries out justice and the way the Palestinians carry out justice.
While the Palestinians being released were accused, judged, found guilty and sentenced by a properly constituted court of impartial judges where only the act committed by the accused was in question without involving how they felt about the individual who was accused of commiting those acts, Gilad was judged by the entire Palestinian People.
The Palestinian People judged the entire People of Israel as criminals already long ago, at least since the Jews decided more than 100 years ago to establish a Jewish State in the territory once known as Judea and recently named Palestine.
They don't agree that Jews have the right or the duty to defend their state. Every Jew who does that is a criminal. In this way they legitimise any form of punitive action against any Israeli, making even the most cruel slaughter of Jews an act of loyalty to the Palestinian People instead of a crime against humanity. Every Jew living in Israel is a criminal in their eyes. So they consider Gilad a criminal and their people in Israeli goals as innocent, loyal citizens of the rightful Palestinian State.
It's about time that the Palestinians recognise that the Jews have an equal right (perhaps more equal, but I won't quibble) to exist as a free nation in their own state in this territory which they call Palestine and the Jews call Israel.
That way they will have proper courts instead of folk justice. Civilized countries aren't governed by mass hysteria. Only the media can use hysteria to get people to take notice of an important issue. Hysteria isn't a way to govern a country. That's the way dictators govern.
The forthcoming release of a young Israeli soldier held hostage by the Hamas leadership of the Palestinian People in return for 1027 Palestinians, judged and sentenced by Israeli courts as criminals, is definitely something to shout about.
The media is giving expression to the wave of joy which is sweeping through the land. The joy is news and Gilad's release is news but the biggest news is that criminals who have been judged as such are being released.
We in Israel consider Gilad an innocent boy, who was simply doing his duty, as a soldier defending his country. We view the Palestinians being released as criminals judged by a court of law.
In the eyes of Israelis this isn't an exchange of equals, it's not an exchange of one innocent person for another. It's an exchange of innocence for guilt. This is the thing that shocks everybody.
Every day, like a horror movie in serial form, stories appear in the media about how the Palestinians being released murdered entire Israeli families in cold blood, how they placed bombs on busses and in restaurants killing hundreds of people.
But there isn't a single word of any crime comitted by Gilad. The only story one can find about him is that he's the epitome of innocence and the prime example of a young man who is loyal to his country and was captured by these criminal Palestinians while doing his duty for his country as expected of every citizen.
Actually this is a one sided view of the exchange. A more correct view is that, in the eyes of the Palestinian nation Gilad is the criminal and the Palestinians being released in exchange for him are the innocent ones.
This view comes from the difference between the way Israel carries out justice and the way the Palestinians carry out justice.
While the Palestinians being released were accused, judged, found guilty and sentenced by a properly constituted court of impartial judges where only the act committed by the accused was in question without involving how they felt about the individual who was accused of commiting those acts, Gilad was judged by the entire Palestinian People.
The Palestinian People judged the entire People of Israel as criminals already long ago, at least since the Jews decided more than 100 years ago to establish a Jewish State in the territory once known as Judea and recently named Palestine.
They don't agree that Jews have the right or the duty to defend their state. Every Jew who does that is a criminal. In this way they legitimise any form of punitive action against any Israeli, making even the most cruel slaughter of Jews an act of loyalty to the Palestinian People instead of a crime against humanity. Every Jew living in Israel is a criminal in their eyes. So they consider Gilad a criminal and their people in Israeli goals as innocent, loyal citizens of the rightful Palestinian State.
It's about time that the Palestinians recognise that the Jews have an equal right (perhaps more equal, but I won't quibble) to exist as a free nation in their own state in this territory which they call Palestine and the Jews call Israel.
That way they will have proper courts instead of folk justice. Civilized countries aren't governed by mass hysteria. Only the media can use hysteria to get people to take notice of an important issue. Hysteria isn't a way to govern a country. That's the way dictators govern.
