Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser are coming home

2 years after their capture from the Israeli side of the border, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser are coming home.

Honoring its full commitment to each and every soldier in the IDF, Israel is paying a heavy price for their return, releasing cold blooded child killer terrorist Samir Kuntar.

On April 22, 1979, Kuntar's terror cell reached the shore of Nahariya in a rubber dinghy; they shot at a police car and killed an Israeli police officer. At midnight they broke into the Haran family home, and abducted the father, Danny, and his four-year-old daughter, Einat. The mother, Smadar, the two-year-old daughter Yael, and a neighbor hid in a bedroom crawlspace.  

The terrorists took the hostages towards the shore and, when they encountered law enforcement officers and IDF soldiers, Samir Kuntar shot Danny Haran at close range and cold-bloodedly slaughtered Einat by bashing her skull against a rock with the butt of his rifle. In the hiding place at the Haran home, baby Yael suffocated to death from her mother’s attempts to keep her quiet so the terrorists would not find them. 

In the gunfire battle that ensued on the beach, an Israeli police officer and two members of the terror cell were killed.

Our hearts are with the families of Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser. Samir Kuntar may be returning to Lebanon, but please help us spread this video about his hideous crimes.

Here is the response of Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry to the deal and its implications:

Comments

[YAAKOV]

I AM UTTERLY NAUSEATED BY THE NOW EVIDENT LOSS OF ELDAD REGEV AND UDI GOLDWASSER. MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR A BLESSING.

[Kolyah]

I have a son currently in the IDF. If he was captured, my heart would want heaven and earth moved to get him back. At the same time, I could not justify his return at the expense of many more Jewish deaths that would result by giving the terrorists what they want. What this prisoner release has done is to tell the Hizbullah and all other terror groups that Israel will pay the same disproportionate price for the return of Jews ... dead or alive. It gives an incentive for more soldiers to be captured and civilians kidnapped. It gives a blessing for them to go ahead and kill their captives. Their captives have been proved to serve as effective bargaining cash, power, and control in the hands of these enemies. This will unleash a terrible flow of deadly consequences upon Israel. The head of the viper has been allowed to rise, and it WILL use its deadly bite ... again and again.

[Tanaana]

G-d bless the families of Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, and their souls. May they be at peace with Hashem and may their families find peace. My only hope is that Israel doesn't live to regret this decision.

[JUSTICE]

the price paid by israel is nothing in comparison to that paid by the women and children of the Lebanon during the IDF's murderous onslaught against them. One day the perpetrators will be brought to Justice.

[joan]

The thought of a killer being lionized and adored shows the stark difference between cultures. I pray that Israel remains strong; that her resolve to find peace among such putrid enemies stays steadfast. May the souls of the murdered Israeli soldiers , Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, find eternal peace.........

[yp]

Kuntar needs to be kept track of and his movements followed. Maybe he will lead to other terrorists and they can be gotten rid of along with him.

[Mary Connor]

Why such a disparate bargain? Surely it should be dead for dead and live for live! No wonder Hezbollah thinks of this exchange as a victory. I would certainly believe that the two Israelis were tortured to death. The Hezbollah soldiers should have likewise been murdered and put in boxes before returning them. By agreeing to this unfair bargain the Israelis are simply showing the other side they can get away with anything - it's like a conditioned response!

[yp]

May Hashem avenge the blood of the innocent and punish the guilty!

[Nickwho]

My condolences to the families of ELDAD REGEV AND UDI GOLDWASSER. In reply to Justice's coment, If you want justice, Israel should wipe Hesbullah off of the map and make Lbenon a free country.

[Richard]

Sorrow upon sorrow...

[Tiki]

This is so wrong, so very wrong. I find this both heartbreaking and frightening at the same time but I don’t know what the answer is. While I understand the reason Israel does this, as Kolyah stated, this just begs for more Israelis to be kidnapped. As a Jew but not an Israeli, I believe this is a question for the people of Israel; the people that are in the military, or send their children to the military need to make this decision, not the ultra-Orthodox who don't have to make these types of decisions for their own children.

One thing that does need to happen is that the world needs to know not only that these murderers are free but the details of what condition the boys remains were returned in.
Having a murderer like Kuntar free is not going to help anyone on this earth and yes, these people must be followed forever.

As for “justice”, I think you need to learn the meaning of the word.
My condolences go out to the Regev and Goldwasser families.

[Renee]

There are no words for how heartbroken and betrayed the Regev and Goldwasser families are feeling right now. These actions by Hizbullah should prove to the world that you can not make peace with terrorists. Alas, the world truly doesn't care if more Jewish blood is spilled. May the neshamot of Udi and Eldad be blessed.

[george]

it is so sad, it makes me so mad.

condolences to the goldwasser and regev families.

i 've had enough of this bullshit! why is it so? why do we always have to give a damn about public opinion? why not bomb beirut? we are only state in the fucking world that has a truce with his enemy, keeps the truce and is still getting bombed by the same enemy despite the truce... i can't dig it...can you ???????
how can a sovereign state celebrate a child murderer and not be punished by some kinky UN resolution?
am israel chazak ve chai!
shalom ya'll.

[Jason]

I would NEVER tell Israel or my family to trade my body remains for a murdering terrorist. The terrorists aren't even worth 100 Israelis, they aren't even worth 5,000,000 Israelis.

[Viktor]

This “exchange” is the most dangerous and myopic decision by Israeli government for the last 20 ‎years. Pardoning convicted killer and terrorist, Israeli government creates a well paved road for ‎the future abduction of Israeli citizens by all types of terrorists.‎

Jews, wake up and through away your current leaders before it’s too late. Otherwise our children ‎will be struggling for another 2000 years to have our land back.‎

[Mordechay Ariely]

I present my condolences to the families and to our nation.
Although we have to wait for at least 1 week before opening serious discussions, once the debate has been open I would like to add 3 questions.
Following are cut and paste sentences from an Islam ideological book published the last 6 month:
The West has no stomach for a long fight"
kidnappings, the holding of hostages, the use of women and children as human shields, exhibition killings to terrorize the enemy, suicide bombings and countless gestures that make normal life impossible for the "infidel" and Muslim collaborators.
The "infidel," leaving his home every morning, should be unsure whether he'll return in the evening. "
We are phasing an enemy with a war doctrine totally different to the war doctrines experienced the last 200 years.
The moral values and international lows used by the international community are not lined up to deal with the terror age.
Base on the above, are my 3 points of discussion:
1: Our political, religious, philosopher leaders and media should open a terrible moral debate.
Shell we carry on with our tradition of saving a single five regardless the price?
Shell we consider how to minimize the long term price as a nation we are paying?
2; Shell we require the international community- namely the non Muslim countries, to change the conflict lows to be in line with the terror period?
3: What are the limits and self control our media should impose self impose covering tragedies? Shell our media conduct a code of behavior debate?
Their influence on the public is major and unwilling they are paying the card wanted by the terror organization/
People that are under terror impact, the majority, do not fit physiological to interviews and expressing logical thoughts/.
They should be left to cope with their losses for a long period

[jerry]

The horrors we all face are self evident and the international community must either learn to make sense of the value of life and death or continue to suffer with even more horrors. To value life, even through death, is something that those who subjegate, threaten, terrorize, intimidate, murder and destroy...do not understand. IF the people of the world, nations all, do not stand together for the freedoms and rights of all, then NONE will have those freedoms or rights. We must have the courage to stand together against all violent offenders, to use common sense and stop this political correctness and posturing and ...It will only lead to continuing horrible acts>>>>>> The world's most serious dilemma is NOT "Global Warming"...it IS "Global Conflict". It is this that depletes our world, our natural, economic and personal resources which could be better served for all. There is ONE CULTURE...the Human Culture, a family, that through the ages has spread throughout the world, achieved at great expense and become intolerant of it's own...a dysfunctional family>>>>>>>>
We can do better.

[אזרח כאוב]

חייבים להוריד את הממשלה שאחראית לעיסקת השבויים אסור להסכים שהיו לנו כאלה מנהיגים תבוסתנים שפועלים ממניעים לא רציונלים
!!!!!!

[Kazzaz Moshe]

THIS GOVERMENT MUST BE GO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE