OK, tell me what's wrong with this picture:


What I want to know is who invented that urban legend about how Jews are supposed to be such savvy businessmen? Hmmm? Because how many times in the past have we seen a similar story about how the Israelis make a "prisoner" exchange where they trade living terrorists for dead Israeli bodies? What kind of a deal is that?

I don't know how to answer that one. If it were my "dead" loved one, I would want his/her body back. I would exchange a prisoner whose alleged crime was terrorism to bury him/her properly. Especially if I were Jewish, as a proper burial would be very important to me.

It is part of the "contract" that the Israeli Government have with their soldiers that whatever happens they will get their bodies back. So although it would seem a bad exchange, they kept their word and as genii says they get a proper Jewish funeral.

They should have shot all five terrorists at the border and kicked their bodies across it. I guess the Israelis are being the bigger men, and that says a lot about Hezbollah.

Would have made more sense. At least it would have gone a long way towards equalizing the "goods" in the exchange.


And we can all see what that has achieved for Israel. Nothing!


And as Lawmage has pointed out again and again, Hezbollah, like the rest of Arab Street, doesn't particularly give a damn what anyone says, good bad or indifferent. I think if the Israelis really want to impress Hizbollah, we need to get back to your first statement I quoted. THIS is something Arab Street seems to respect.

I guess they were thinking more about kabbalah karama...

Ray, Politics is not about who is right but who has the power in the long run. Israel is surrounded by Arab States. One of the few it can talk to is Lebonan. When you say
You miss the point. This action has given Isreal a friend or at least a chance for a time to exist in peace with at least one of its neighbours .

It is true getting bodies back is important. How many lives did the USA lose in Vietnam in retrieving bodies of soldiers? Even today people are trying to retrieve bodies of previous wars.

If you think violence is more useful than you have not learnt from history. All wars are settle eventually by negotiations.

Technically you are correct about how all wars are "settled eventually by negotiations." However, I might like to point out that the quickest settlements have usually been made after one party in the negotiations has previously kicked the shit out of the other party, e.g. The Allies "negotiating" with the Axis, or the United States of America "negotiating" with the Confederate States of America.

No matter how a person dies, there are certain funeral rituals that take place within a Jewish community. To do otherwise would show disrespect for the dead.

This is probably why returning the bodies was so important. It is also undoubtedly why the bodies were retained to be used as leverage in just such an exchange.

I think it has to do with getting into heaven or the way you will be in the afterlife depends on your body. This is not the place for such discussion, but the body is important to Judaism. If the bodies are being kept from being buried properly, then his family will worry about their family member getting into heaven, therefore its almost like the persons body is being held for random, or being kidnapped like a living person