Celebrating life

October 16, 2011 - 10:47 PM by Brian Blum

Like most Israelis, Gilad Shalit was a big part of the discussion at our Shabbat table this past weekend. And like most of the country, our conclusions were neither easy nor clear cut.

As the parent of a soldier currently serving in the IDF, and another one who will be drafted in less than a year’s time, of course we want to be 100% confident that our government will go to whatever means possible to not leave anyone behind. It is the unwritten contract that enables us to send our children to the frontlines.

Yet, at the same time, as the family of Marla Bennett, a 23-year-old student who was murdered in 2002 in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, I’m not at all sure how I’d feel if her killers were on the list of those to be released (they aren’t, but the question is far from hypothetical for many in Israel).

And from a strategic perspective, will the release of 1,000 terrorists, including some who have committed truly heinous crimes, result in more Israeli deaths? By one estimate cited by Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon (who voted against the swap), the mass prisoner release in the 1985 Jibril Deal led directly to 178 additional murders. If that number is correct, how could the release of one soldier possibly be justified? And yet, again, how can we call ourselves a moral army if we abandon one of our own?

I read through all the arguments in the weekend newspapers, but one spoke to me the most: how can we be sure? That is, if we are able to rescue Gilad Shalit, that’s one life saved for certain vs. the possibility that more Israelis will be killed. It’s an opinion which, argues Jerusalem Rabbi Benny Lau, must take precedence in such a painful debate.

The army generals who spoke in favor of the swap added that, with modern tracking technology and the IDF’s continued operation in the territories, we’ll have a much better chance of ensuring that the released terrorists will not return to their previous activities.

That doesn’t seem so likely. Can we really keep on top of what every one of the newly freed men is doing? In Gaza, where our intelligence wasn’t good enough to free Gilad Shalit through military means? And are those other countries slated to receive these murderers so trustworthy that they won’t suddenly “lose track” of their “productive” new citizens? Perhaps the terrorists exiled to Turkey (one of the reported countries on the list and not exactly a great friend to Israel these days) will join up with Al Qaeda. That doesn’t sound like such a great plan.

At the end of the day, though, in our home at least, the case for bringing our soldier home alive today won out over the potential danger going forward. The words of Kay Wilson, who survived a terror attack last December near Beit Shemesh where her friend Christine Luken was killed, resonated: “Emotionally, it’s healthier to celebrate life, rather than to get stuck with loss,” she said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Barring any last minute snags, all of Israel will be soon celebrating life. And that trumps it all.

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