TRADING FOR BONES

July 17, 2008

During World War II, while the gassing and cremation of Jews was actively ongoing throughout Central and Eastern Europe, international Jewish leaders, including representatives of the Jewish community in Palestine, actively negotiated with Adolf Eichmann and the Nazi government.  These Jews were trying to save other Jews, particularly those in newly-occupied Hungary, and they were willing to trade money and material if the Germans would allows the Hungarian Jews to leave the country safely.

Negotiating with Nazis, while Auschwitz and the other concentration camps are going full-steam, was, and is, controversial.  But, no one doubts the motivations of those that did so.  They were not trying to help the Nazis, and they were trying to save real people whose lives were in imminent danger.
The current government of Israel has far less demanding standards.  They are willing to part with a prisoner who was convicted, in a court of due process, of murdering three Israelis, including a four year old child (whose head was bashed in).  The person who committed these crimes snuck into Israel to do so.

Since this murderer’s conviction, various Arab groups have attempted kidnappings to try to convince the Israeli government to release him.  These attempts have included the kidnapping, and subsequent murder, of an American citizen.  Prior Israeli governments, though, have been steadfast, and the murderer has remained in jail.

Perhaps that is because the Arabs who were trying to release him had been offering too much.  Before, they had tried to capture Israelis and American Jews, in an attempt to trade for their currently favorite murderer.  They eventually came up with a more creative strategy: stop offering real people, and offer bones instead.

The bone initiative worked beautifully.  The Israelis eagerly agreed to give up their prisoner, who returned to a hero’s welcome in Lebanon
Bones sometimes have value, if one is an archeologist, or a dog.  The bones the Israelis got, though, will be promptly buried.

While I do not demean the sadness of the families of the soldiers whose lives once utilized these bones, I am disgusted with placing a value on them like the 21st century Israelis were some sort of prehistoric death cult.

Similarly, while the families of the fallen Israeli soldiers are presumably relieved to have the bones of their loved ones back in the country, the bones, in the end, bring them nothing.  They can now mourn over a grave that contains matter other than soil.  How that is worth the deal’s encouragement of capturing and killing more Israelis is anyone’s guess.

Israel traded its judicial independence, system of justice, and right to prosecute murders of its citizens, and got bones.  At least the naughty child at Christmas gets coal.  In today’s energy markets, that, at least, is worth something.