Christian Message Boards: Despite bombing, Israel releases hundreds of terrorists

This is topic Despite bombing, Israel releases hundreds of terrorists in forum Israel the Promised Land at Christian Message Boards.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://thechristianbbs.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000141

Posted by helpforhomeschoolers (Member # 15) on :

JNW News
Despite bombing, Israel releases hundreds of terrorists
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
January 29, 2004

Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Israel Thursday officially put behind it the days of not negotiating with terrorists, when it set free some 430 Arab security prisoners in exchange for one Israeli and three corpses being held by Hizballah.

Businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of IDF Staff Sergeants Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Suwad boarded a plane back to Israel Thursday afternoon after three years in Hizballah hands.

Their return was paid for with the release of 401 Palestinian prisoners into Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and the repatriation of Lebanese terror chiefs Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abed Karim Obeid, along with 27 other foreign nationals.

Several right-wing officials decried the exchange, saying it demonstrated Israel's weakness and further deteriorated the nation's deterrence capability.

The exchange

IDF forensics experts arrived at an air base in Cologne, Germany overnight and positively identified the bodies of Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Suwad Thursday morning, opening the way for the completion of a prisoner exchange with the Hizballah terrorist organization.

Army staff members were sent to the homes of the three soldiers to confirm to their families that it was in fact their sons' remains that would be returned.

Shortly after, Israel began setting free some 400 Palestinian security prisoners, and handed over Lebanese terror chiefs Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abed Karim Obeid and 27 other Arab prisoners in return for Tannenbaum and the soldiers' corpses.

Fifty-nine bodies of Lebanese terrorists buried in Israel were also transferred to Lebanon.

Tannenbaum and the bodies of Avraham, Avitan and Suwad are scheduled to touch down at Ben Gurion Airport at 8 PM Israel time, where a state military ceremony will be held for the fallen soldiers.

Avitan will be buried in Tiberias at 11 AM Friday morning.

Who is Elhanan Tannenbaum?

During his captivity, reports circulated that Tannenbaum had been involved in illegal business deals with Arab contacts, and could face a criminal investigation upon his return.

But in an interview with Hizballah's Al-Manar television station Wednesday night, Tannenbaum said he had gone to Beirut "in order to get information about missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, and for financial reasons for my family."

Speaking in Hebrew, Tannenbaum said he hoped the government would listen patiently to his whole story before passing judgment.

In the interview, Tannenbaum said Hizballah had treated him well. However his son, Ori, reminded reporters his father "was speaking after three years of captivity, and not as a free man."

Sign of weakness

Government officials in Jerusalem Thursday maintained that a massive terrorist bus bombing in the capital earlier in the day was in no way connected with the lopsided prisoner swap.

Several influential right-wing Knesset Members disagreed.

"The goal of this terrible attack was to embarrass Israel and make the release of 400 terrorists severely humiliating, and it seems to me [it] has worked," Likud MK Yuval Steinitz told Ynet.

Steinitz is chairman of the prestigious Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Likud MK Ehud Yatom said the attack was "the answer of [Hizballah chief Hassan] Nasrallah, [PLO head Yasser] Arafat, [Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed]Yassin and the leaders of Iran to Israel's weakness, which was demonstrated once again in the massive release of prisoners and the relinquishing of negotiating chips like [Mustafa] Dirani without demanding the return of Ron Arad."

Ten Israelis were killed and more than 50 others wounded when a Palestinian jihadist bomber destroyed a passenger bus in downtown Jerusalem Thursday morning.

Posted by bodyless (Member # 3477) on :

You seem to paint the isreali goverment as the good guys. They are not. They openly admit too carrying out contract killings.

Posted by becauseHElives (Member # 87) on :

The American Government has been caring out contract killing also for a long time. It was our government that had President Kennedy killed and also President Lincoln also.

Government's do what they think they must. That is was a child of Yahweh can have no part in it. A Christian is called to love all men/women equally. No matter if they are as evil as Hitler. But it is a lot easier to kill your enemy, than to get on your face before Yahweh and fast and pray till Yahweh sends the answer.

Posted by bodyless (Member # 3477) on :

Unconditionally loving and forgiving everyone is the hardest thing to do in the world no doubt.