Uri Avnery: Kidnapped

Really. I think he's been mentally and psychologically kidnapped.

Why?

His op-ed in Ha-Ha-Haaretz today.

Extract from:

Shalit wasn't kidnapped

It was the Israeli government that coined the term "kidnapped soldier," and the media obediently joined the chorus. Gilad Shalit has been a prisoner of war for 1,205 days. ...The Israeli government refused to call the taking of a prisoner of war by its real name, arguing that it was a "kidnapping." The Israeli media, which on security matters marches in lockstep like a Prussian regiment behind the generals, joined the chorus. Everyone, everyone almost without exception, spoke from the first day about the "kidnapped soldier." The term is significant. Every army in the world is accustomed to exchanging prisoners of war. Usually this is carried out at the end of a war. Sometimes it also takes place during a war. The army releases the enemy's fighters in return for its own fighters.

When it comes to kidnapping, the situation is altogether different. When criminals kidnap someone and demand a ransom, the question can arise whether to pay the price, which could encourage further kidnappings. It rewards criminals.

The world media also accepted the Israeli terminology almost without exception. All over the world there were references to the "kidnapped" Israeli soldier and not the "prisoner of war."

Now, before you begin to think that he may have a point, you have to realize that what Avnery is suggesting has nothing to do with Israel but everything to do with Hamas.

You see, Avnery considers Hamas an equal army to the IDF. Hamas has a military framework and Israel has one. They are equal and Israel and Hamastan are equal. They are not terrorists but fighters, soldiers.

This is insanity.

Avnery, a former Irgun fighter who turned his back on the Zionist struggle, is a turncoat. And he is harming Israel's position. He is subverting the truth and justifying the Hamas campaign against Israelis.