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With the potential release of Cpl Gilad Shalit from Hamas control in Gaza and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in Lebanon, let us not forget Ron Arad... nor:
I have a lapel button:
The button dates from the late 1960s.
Sadly, I do not remember who the "Damascus 2" are (or were).
Please, if anyone can remember please send me the information.
Was the soldier wearing his uniform? Was he captured in a battle? The answer to these is "Yes."Other comments on "kidnapping soldiers": from Samson Blinded (who goes on to advocate kidnapping Palestinian leaders, which is not my point):A state of war has existed between the State of Israel and all those countries/peoples who have not signed peace treaties with it since 1947. Why do we say he was kidnapped? Is it because the "army" that fought against him is not from a recognized state and therefore cannot have an actual army?
Why is he not a "prisoner of war"?
I asked my Israeli brother about this. He comments:
I really don't see why the government is demanding his return if he was captured in battle - after all, that's the sort of thing that happens in a combat situation. To my mind, the killing of civilians is much more serious. Soldiers are, after all, supposed to be taking their chances as they defend us.He was basically taken prisoner.
When we take their people prisoner, we're taking terrorists - which they may well be, but they have a hard time being soldiers when there's no real standing army.
You may not like it, but Hamas was acting within the international law when it kidnapped Shalit. Even among Jewish liberals, Professor Walzer, an eminent scholar of the moral theory of war, concedes that soldiers are not innocents. Once they take up arms, they become legal target for their opponents. Israel was at war with Hamas at the time of kidnapping. Since the West Bank is "occupied" and not liberated and annexed, the war goes on. A country should be mad to consider exchanging one non-innocent person for a thousand guilty ones.I can't, however, find the original Walzer quote.
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