As public calls increase for a prisoner swap, Hamas announces to the world that they’re ready to go back to the kidnapping well:
Super.
Incidentally, a little disclosure: it’s very easy for us to sit here and take cheap shots at YNet for publishing an editorial advocating a prisoner swap, which is more or less why we do it. But we just don’t know. Some kind of prisoner swap is going to be necessary to get Shalit back, and his fate is worth a lot of Palestinians willing to wear suicide belts if they can get across the border (what? you don’t think Hamas has enough of those now…) On the other hand, we got burned last time by saying that a one-time prisoner swap is worth the cost because the Palestinians and Hezbollah knew that trying it again would get them leveled. So we just don’t know.
(Genuine) bonus question: is there an answer to “it doesn’t matter if a prisoner swap will increase Hamas and Hezbollah’s incentive to kidnap Israelis, since they’re trying to do that anyway?”
References:
* The blood test of the Shalit deal [Ha'aretz]
* Return Shalit at any price [YNet]
* Israel has not rejected Hamas prisoner list, Egyptian official says [Ha'aretz]
Previously:
* Prisoner Exchange News: Because You Wanted To Have A Shitty Day Anyway
* Israel Draws a Line in the Sand: Only Low-Ranking Terrorists To Be Freed. For Shalit. For Now. Maybe.
* Palestinians Say They Won’t Release Shalit Because of Qana – Asks World to Forget That They Weren’t Going to Release Him Anyway
