RHEA ISRAEL RehovotSir, – I found Caroline B.Glick’s argument against the swap compelling and chilling, whereas Hirsh Goodman’s “It’s not about price” (Post- Script, October 14) was weak and unconvincing.To say that Israel “can well manage the potential threat from people we know intimately” is bravado. To say that terrorists “have been banished to lands far from here” is disingenuous.As for the “example” Moshe Ya’alon is sending to our young soldiers, I would ask what kind of message we are sending them when they must be more aware than ever that they are ripe for the plucking?FRANCES GOLDSTEIN Ginot ShomronSir, – Hirsh Goodman repeats the oft-used justification for returning hundreds of killers for one captive soldier: It is the message that no one is left behind.But what about the inescapable message to our soldiers who risk their lives to capture these killers? The message is: Don’t waste your effort! They’ll be freed sooner or later anyway, so why put yourself in danger? That message, too, was conveyed to our soldiers in this unwise, unfair and unjustified deal to return Gilad Schalit.AVIGDOR BONCHEK JerusalemSir, – The media coverage of the Chilean miners’ plight was enormous, as only a humanitarian situation could be, and the relief over their rescue was celebrated everywhere.However many of them remain traumatized, and the insatiable media continue to want insight into their lives, as though in a reality show. Many just cannot cope – and their time frame of captivity cannot be compared to that of Gilad Schalit.I sincerely hope that the soldier’s privacy is respected for a very long time, and wish him and his family many blessings and peace.SALLY SHAW Kfar Saba
October 19: Gilad Schalit
Gilad Schalit: The bitter with the sweet
RHEA ISRAEL RehovotSir, – I found Caroline B.Glick’s argument against the swap compelling and chilling, whereas Hirsh Goodman’s “It’s not about price” (Post- Script, October 14) was weak and unconvincing.To say that Israel “can well manage the potential threat from people we know intimately” is bravado. To say that terrorists “have been banished to lands far from here” is disingenuous.As for the “example” Moshe Ya’alon is sending to our young soldiers, I would ask what kind of message we are sending them when they must be more aware than ever that they are ripe for the plucking?FRANCES GOLDSTEIN Ginot ShomronSir, – Hirsh Goodman repeats the oft-used justification for returning hundreds of killers for one captive soldier: It is the message that no one is left behind.But what about the inescapable message to our soldiers who risk their lives to capture these killers? The message is: Don’t waste your effort! They’ll be freed sooner or later anyway, so why put yourself in danger? That message, too, was conveyed to our soldiers in this unwise, unfair and unjustified deal to return Gilad Schalit.AVIGDOR BONCHEK JerusalemSir, – The media coverage of the Chilean miners’ plight was enormous, as only a humanitarian situation could be, and the relief over their rescue was celebrated everywhere.However many of them remain traumatized, and the insatiable media continue to want insight into their lives, as though in a reality show. Many just cannot cope – and their time frame of captivity cannot be compared to that of Gilad Schalit.I sincerely hope that the soldier’s privacy is respected for a very long time, and wish him and his family many blessings and peace.SALLY SHAW Kfar Saba