Abbas congratulates Kuntar's family for killer's release

By News Agencies

Tags: Samir Kuntar, Hezbollah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday congratulated the family of notorious Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar , who was freed on Wednesday with four Hezbollah guerillas as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel.

Abbas welcomed the swap between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group, and in a statement congratulated the families of the "liberated prisoners," issued during a visit to Malta.

Kuntar has been imprisoned in Israel since 1979. He was convicted of one of the grisliest attacks in Israeli history - killing three people including, a man in front of his 4-year-old daughter, and then killing the girl herself by crushing her skull.

In Gaza, meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday hailed Kuntar as "a great hero" and said Israel's decision to release him and four Hezbollah fighters had undermined Israel's policy of not freeing "prisoners with blood on their hands."

Haniyeh also branded the exchange of prisoners as "a victory" for Hezbollah and armed resistance against Israel.

"The Israelis should pay the price for the release of Gilad Shalit," Haniya said in a statement in central Gaza, referring to the Israel Defense Forces soldier kidnapped by Gaza militants in June, 2006 cross-border raid.

more...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1002733.html

to throw for this animal? This makes me want to vomit.

'Hundreds of spectators turned out Wednesday evening to celebrate as the five Lebanese prisoners freed by Israel earlier in the day were treated to a red carpet and honor guard welcome as they made their first public appearance in the southern Lebanon border town of Naqoura.'

snip...

The Lebanese government has declared Wednesday a national holiday to celebrate the "liberation of prisoners from the jails of the Israeli enemy and the return of the remains of martyrs."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1002659.html

I guess that about sums it up, some party huh?
At least we now know what the priorities are.

what a bunch of maniacs.

Makes me want to vomit too.

People who celebrate death are insane.

(hardly restricted to Lebanon, or to the Middle East).

But they are always evil and an obstacle to peace.

Robert Burns said it all over 200 years ago.


On Thanksgiving For A National Victory


Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks?
To murder men, and give God thanks?
Desist for shame! Proceed no further:
God won't accept your thanks for Murther.

but there are people who fight in wars, and then there are war CRIMINALS. Kuntar was not just a fighter on 'the other side'. He was a war criminal!

If an Israeli soldier, or an American or British or Iraqi soldier, bashes a small child's head in, then they are war criminals too. It goes beyond what side you are on; there are some actions that are just exceptionally vile in themselves, and cannot be excused by 'patriotism'.

speaks with a forked tongue.

mainly wants to save his own skin. He knows that if he offends the wrong people, he's liable to end up very dead. Whether he has any principles, good or bad, beyond that, I have no idea!

The rules of war assume a battle between equals. That is not always the case.

Simple example - the colonists who fought the British army killed/murdered(?) the British soldiers from behind trees. A crime or not?

Since the winners always define the terms and make the rules retroactively, they always justify their actions.

n/t

Don;t trust either one as far as you could throw 'em.