Gilad Shalit Media Event
23 march 2009
Over the past week there was non-stop media coverage of vigils and protests demanding that the Israeli government make the prisoner swap necessary to ensure the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit who has now spent over 1000 days as a Hamas prisoner. Abducted in a Hamas commando raid on Israeli territory Shalit was taken to Gaza where he has been a prisoner ever since. The Olmert cabinet is negotiating his release through Egyptian mediators but is not willing to cut a deal involving the return of certain Hamas murderers convicted of involvement in homicide/suicide bombings which killed and injured thousands of Israelis. Hamas has submitted a list of over 400 convicted terrorists, many with the blood of dozens of Israelis on their hands.
Approximately half of all convicted terrorists return to terrorism once freed. It is estimated there will be hundreds of Israeli casualties from such attacks should the more deadly among them be released to Gaza and/or the West Bank. Israel has agreed to free quite a few with "blood on their hands" but with the stipulation they be sent to third party countries. So far all deals have been rejected by Hamas for Shalit's release.
Yet you would barely know this from engaging the Israeli media. Night after night Shalit's release was the main story with the Israeli government standing accused of having abandoned him. Family, friends and supporters of his freedom are constantly interviewed while those who claim the price in the future blood of innocents is far too high are barely heard when allotted an obligatory few minutes to express their opinions, many of whom are relatives of terror victims and deserving of media time.
In short the media is having a field day playing on everyone's emotions while working to pressure the government to accept virtually any price to attain Shalit's release. Certainly for Gilad's family he is more important than policy considerations but governments are responsible for the security and well being of all their citizens and with all due respect to the massive suffering by the family and captured soldier himself the government cannot abdicate its responsibility to the rest of the nation. The Shalit advocates are being far from honest as pointed out by the extreme left wing (and Israel reviler) Haaretz journalist Gideon Levi who makes clear that protesting for Shalit's release is not the issue since there is no disagreement among the Israeli public here. He demands that protesters stop being hypocritical and carry placards demanding the release of hundreds if not thousands of terrorists because that is the real issue. (I hate the thought of agreeing with Gideon Levi. Let it be pointed out that he very much wants to release terrorists while I find the idea repugnant.)
The problem with the mainstream media is that they have all the perceived authority but no real responsibility while convincing the average person of their expertise which for the most part they do not have. Even when trying to "balance" the story they play on everyone's emotions. "What would you do if he was your son?" They do not ask the Shalit advocates "How many blood thirsty terrorists would you release if you were the prime minister and will you take full responsibility for all of their terror acts in the future?"
The press can always say they made a mistake in analyzing the situation or in showing too much support for a certain side. Take the "Four Mothers" protest organization established in the late 1990s during Israel's last years in the south Lebanese security zone. Four women whose sons served in Lebanon built an impressive and very influential extra-parliamentary organization demanding an Israeli withdrawal to the international border with Lebanon. By 1999 and the election of Labor's Ehud Barak as PM, they had obtained enormous media coverage and convinced many politicians of their case, especially on the Left and Center of the spectrum. But their greatest ally was the media who gave them exposure, played up their cause and eventually saw it as a collective victory of "the people" through a grass roots civilian movement defeating the "frozen thinking" of military and political leaders. The Four Mothers, the media and their supporters forgot (or preferred not) to read Hezbollah Sec. Gen. Hassan Nasrallah's writings and speeches taken from Ayatollah Khomeini's repertoire where international boundaries, secular states and any non-Shiite theocratic political entity is to be destroyed. Israeli withdrawal to the international border was seen as a defeat for the Jews and not the beginning of conflict resolution as mistakenly understood in the West.
When the Second Lebanon War broke out in July 2006, one of the Four Mothers interviewed expressed "confusion" and a lack of understanding of what was happening. Another member was said to be abroad – possibly permanently. As friendly as the media tried to be, by the end of the war commentators were blasting government "short sightedness", lack of preparation for an eventual conflict and Ehud Barak's widely hailed withdrawal from the south Lebanese security zone in May 2000. Everyone was to blame except the media. They "only" report the news. The media was completely innocent of forcing events, making the news themselves, taking a position on major issues, influencing public opinion or ever truly making a mistake. The media was not culpable in any way and only offered "balanced" commentary. Somehow, if forced to, most people remember otherwise, if they care to remember at all.
Eventually there will be a deal, either in the last days of the Olmert administration or afterwards. When bombings and terror attacks will be traced to those released the media will interview Shalit activists. Whether caught speechless or not, the answers to be supplied to the relatives of the terror victims will be insufficient. And the media will be blameless as usual.
Certainly we must negotiate for Shalit's return but all must be within reason, meaning without threatening the security of the state and its citizens and if there is a danger it must be curtailed as much as possible. All of these protests and vigils, while being of emotional comfort for the Shalit family, have only raised the price of Gilad's release adding more murderers to the list of Hamas terrorists to be freed. The operation backfired as he is still a prisoner and Hamas demands become more intransigent with time. Islamists everywhere are now further encouraged to abduct or capture Israelis and/or westerners and in particular soldiers, knowing they can demand a heavy price in the release of terrorists in the future.
The Jewish State must do its best to free all in captivity and all soldiers should know it. On the other hand recapturing those released murderers who will return to terrorism will cost Israel quite a few casualties. Many speak of a soldier's combat motivation being affected if he does not believe he will be freed if taken prisoner. Why is no one speaking of the combat motivation of those special units who risk their lives day and night rounding up Hamas terrorists only to see them released? Who will want to join such dangerous units that keep Israel safe on a daily basis if everything they do gets washed away in a give away prisoner exchange? And what does our enlightened media have to say about this?
And finally, Gilad's freedom and security are dear to all. But let us not forget, so are the freedom and safety of all of us whether in the present or in the future. No one is worth more than Corporal Shalit, but then no one individual life is worth less either.
By Yisrael Ne'eman
Over the past week there was non-stop media coverage of vigils and protests demanding that the Israeli government make the prisoner swap necessary to ensure the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit who has now spent over 1000 days as a Hamas prisoner. Abducted in a Hamas commando raid on Israeli territory Shalit was taken to Gaza where he has been a prisoner ever since. The Olmert cabinet is negotiating his release through Egyptian mediators but is not willing to cut a deal involving the return of certain Hamas murderers convicted of involvement in homicide/suicide bombings which killed and injured thousands of Israelis. Hamas has submitted a list of over 400 convicted terrorists, many with the blood of dozens of Israelis on their hands.
Approximately half of all convicted terrorists return to terrorism once freed. It is estimated there will be hundreds of Israeli casualties from such attacks should the more deadly among them be released to Gaza and/or the West Bank. Israel has agreed to free quite a few with "blood on their hands" but with the stipulation they be sent to third party countries. So far all deals have been rejected by Hamas for Shalit's release.
Yet you would barely know this from engaging the Israeli media. Night after night Shalit's release was the main story with the Israeli government standing accused of having abandoned him. Family, friends and supporters of his freedom are constantly interviewed while those who claim the price in the future blood of innocents is far too high are barely heard when allotted an obligatory few minutes to express their opinions, many of whom are relatives of terror victims and deserving of media time.
In short the media is having a field day playing on everyone's emotions while working to pressure the government to accept virtually any price to attain Shalit's release. Certainly for Gilad's family he is more important than policy considerations but governments are responsible for the security and well being of all their citizens and with all due respect to the massive suffering by the family and captured soldier himself the government cannot abdicate its responsibility to the rest of the nation. The Shalit advocates are being far from honest as pointed out by the extreme left wing (and Israel reviler) Haaretz journalist Gideon Levi who makes clear that protesting for Shalit's release is not the issue since there is no disagreement among the Israeli public here. He demands that protesters stop being hypocritical and carry placards demanding the release of hundreds if not thousands of terrorists because that is the real issue. (I hate the thought of agreeing with Gideon Levi. Let it be pointed out that he very much wants to release terrorists while I find the idea repugnant.)
The problem with the mainstream media is that they have all the perceived authority but no real responsibility while convincing the average person of their expertise which for the most part they do not have. Even when trying to "balance" the story they play on everyone's emotions. "What would you do if he was your son?" They do not ask the Shalit advocates "How many blood thirsty terrorists would you release if you were the prime minister and will you take full responsibility for all of their terror acts in the future?"
The press can always say they made a mistake in analyzing the situation or in showing too much support for a certain side. Take the "Four Mothers" protest organization established in the late 1990s during Israel's last years in the south Lebanese security zone. Four women whose sons served in Lebanon built an impressive and very influential extra-parliamentary organization demanding an Israeli withdrawal to the international border with Lebanon. By 1999 and the election of Labor's Ehud Barak as PM, they had obtained enormous media coverage and convinced many politicians of their case, especially on the Left and Center of the spectrum. But their greatest ally was the media who gave them exposure, played up their cause and eventually saw it as a collective victory of "the people" through a grass roots civilian movement defeating the "frozen thinking" of military and political leaders. The Four Mothers, the media and their supporters forgot (or preferred not) to read Hezbollah Sec. Gen. Hassan Nasrallah's writings and speeches taken from Ayatollah Khomeini's repertoire where international boundaries, secular states and any non-Shiite theocratic political entity is to be destroyed. Israeli withdrawal to the international border was seen as a defeat for the Jews and not the beginning of conflict resolution as mistakenly understood in the West.
When the Second Lebanon War broke out in July 2006, one of the Four Mothers interviewed expressed "confusion" and a lack of understanding of what was happening. Another member was said to be abroad – possibly permanently. As friendly as the media tried to be, by the end of the war commentators were blasting government "short sightedness", lack of preparation for an eventual conflict and Ehud Barak's widely hailed withdrawal from the south Lebanese security zone in May 2000. Everyone was to blame except the media. They "only" report the news. The media was completely innocent of forcing events, making the news themselves, taking a position on major issues, influencing public opinion or ever truly making a mistake. The media was not culpable in any way and only offered "balanced" commentary. Somehow, if forced to, most people remember otherwise, if they care to remember at all.
Eventually there will be a deal, either in the last days of the Olmert administration or afterwards. When bombings and terror attacks will be traced to those released the media will interview Shalit activists. Whether caught speechless or not, the answers to be supplied to the relatives of the terror victims will be insufficient. And the media will be blameless as usual.
Certainly we must negotiate for Shalit's return but all must be within reason, meaning without threatening the security of the state and its citizens and if there is a danger it must be curtailed as much as possible. All of these protests and vigils, while being of emotional comfort for the Shalit family, have only raised the price of Gilad's release adding more murderers to the list of Hamas terrorists to be freed. The operation backfired as he is still a prisoner and Hamas demands become more intransigent with time. Islamists everywhere are now further encouraged to abduct or capture Israelis and/or westerners and in particular soldiers, knowing they can demand a heavy price in the release of terrorists in the future.
The Jewish State must do its best to free all in captivity and all soldiers should know it. On the other hand recapturing those released murderers who will return to terrorism will cost Israel quite a few casualties. Many speak of a soldier's combat motivation being affected if he does not believe he will be freed if taken prisoner. Why is no one speaking of the combat motivation of those special units who risk their lives day and night rounding up Hamas terrorists only to see them released? Who will want to join such dangerous units that keep Israel safe on a daily basis if everything they do gets washed away in a give away prisoner exchange? And what does our enlightened media have to say about this?
And finally, Gilad's freedom and security are dear to all. But let us not forget, so are the freedom and safety of all of us whether in the present or in the future. No one is worth more than Corporal Shalit, but then no one individual life is worth less either.