The Absurdity of the Shalit Deal

While Israeli leaders are willing to endanger the entire country by releasing a thousand terrorists to rescue a single soldier, why is it that these same soldiers are sent into combat with rules of engagement which put their lives at risk in order to spare the lives of enemy civilians? Why is it that it is unacceptable to sacrifice an Israeli soldier for the greater good of the nation, however its ok to sacrifice their lives to save enemy civilians in Gaza or Lebanon?

Greenfield gets to the heart of the Shalit matter [This is a very insightful analysis. I totally endorse it and wish I could have written it. Ted Belman]

No Victory But Defeat

By Daniel Greenfield

The most common justification for the Shalit deal is to wear it as a perverse badge of moral nobility. “What other country would exchange a thousand terrorists for one man.” This is a close cousin of the argument that says the United States treating terrorists with kid gloves proves that it is nobler than them. Both of these insufferable arguments are symptoms of the moral decline of civilization.

If the life of a single soldier is more important than the battle, then why have battles or soldiers at all? We don’t send soldiers out to fight because we think that their lives are worthless, but because the objective of war is to save even more lives than those that will be lost in fighting it. Or to preserve that liberty and independence from enemy oppression which are the qualities that make life worthwhile.

There is nothing to be proud of in a moral confusion that puts the soldier before the battle. Even less in a country whose commanders and politicians think nothing of sacrificing soldiers in order to preserve the lives of enemy civilians. [I have often written to this effect. TB]

All the kvelling over Gilad Shalit would be a trifle less dishonest if the pundits, politicians and generals did not believe that sending a dozen boys like Shalit into battle without air and artillery support to avoid harming enemy civilians was also evidence of moral superiority.

If the moral equations say that the life of Gilad Shalit is worth a major national defeat and that the life of a Gilad Shalit is worth less than that of an enemy civilian, then it’s no wonder that the terrorists are thriving. Israel’s own idiot elites have laid out a formula under which the IDF must lose every battle to preserve the nation’s morality. It’s Masada as practiced by left-wing lunatics.

This peacenik logic makes it appearance at rallies protesting against terrorism when someone breaks out into another round of, “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu”, to show that we really want peace. Whom do we want peace with? The people killing us. The people we are protesting against. But like teachers’ pets we have to keep reminding the teacher that we really are good students.

Armed pacifism is a contradiction in terms. Reluctant warriors who believe that peace is the ideal state are forced to blame the lack of peace on someone else. “We would love to put flowers in our guns and let the birds nest in our cannons, but those people over there keep shooting at us.” It’s true, but it’s also besides the point. Expediency is a weak and unconvincing argument against an ideal.

If you view war as an unfortunate response to violence, while the enemy views war as a moral act– then the moral weight of the argument will always be on their side.

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