The price of appeasement

Israel appeases Hamas by entering a truce with them, and Hizbullah gets the message: Israel is a pushover.

Hizbullah has returned to its original demand that Israel release not only several Lebanese prisoners but also hundreds of Palestinian ones in exchange for kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, Ynet has learned.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s specially appointed envoy overseeing MIA affairs, Ofer Dekel, heard the renewed stipulation at a meeting with German mediator Gerhard Conrad in Berlin last week.

And why not? Israel is ignoring the fact that Hamas is using the truce to rearm and regroup, showing Hizbullah that Ehud Olmert will agree to just about anything these days. He’s offering the Golan to Syria and allowing the U.S. and the UN to ignore the UN-agreed-to Shebaa Farms border. So why would Nasrallah think that he needs to actually deal in good faith with Israel? No one else is.

The prime minister vehemently rejected the renewed demand. Israel has repeatedly said it would not consider including Palestinian prisoners in a deal for Regev and Goldwasser under any circumstances. Hizbullah is insisting on the clause to solidify its standing in the Arab world as patrons of the Palestinian cause.

Sure. And a few weeks ago, Olmert vehemently objected to any truce that didn’t include Gilad Shalit’s freedom. Just wait. He’ll cave on this, too. He’s currently threatening to fire all of his cabinet ministers who vote to dissolve the government this week. It remains to be seen if his ministers care more about Israel than they do for their own positions. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

The Labor ministers left the government meeting in order to confer with Labor Chairman Ehud Barak. One of the ministers who witnessed
the scene told Ynet that “The Labor ministers were seriously spooked and immediately left to ask Barak what they should do. The prime minister has proven to them that they won’t be able to keep their jobs while undermining the government.”

Let him fire you, morons. You’ll only be out of work for as long as it takes to complete new elections.

Barak told his ministers that they must hold their ground and vote for the dissolution of the Knesset in view of the multiple police investigations held against Olmert.

Labor announced last week that it intends to back the future motion of dissolution, although given the choice it would “opt for governmental stability rather than new general elections”.

Translation: Polls show a Labor defeat, so we won’t call for elections yet.

I simply can’t get a handle on why Israeli politicians suck so much, and then I take a look around at American politicians, and I go, “Oh.”