Still Ransoming Shalit

Gilad Shalit is the trump card for Jihadists fighting to destroy Israel. The exorbitant price Israel gave for him motivates all future hostage-taking by Hamas and the other like-minded terror groups. If Israel had considered Shalit a "dead hero" and gone on to punish his kidnappers by obliterating them, Israel would likely never have faced the threat of abduction again. By rewarding terror by giving in to the demands of terrorists to secure Shalit's release, Israel guaranteed more attempts to capture IDF personnel and Israeli civilians. By allowing the terror organizations to survive and show off their trophies of murderers released in exchange for a soldier who by all accounts did nothing to protect his comrades or even defend himself, Israel permitted terrorists to shout "victory" with absolute validity. The IDF officer "captured" in Gaza is a bargaining chip whether he is dead or alive, and we have Gilad Shalit and his supporters who coerced the Israeli government to make so many concessions to terrorists to secure his release to thank for this and future abductions.