June 6, 2011:
Israeli officials have been revealing what was long suspected, that Israel has been tracking down and killing those known to be involved with the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit. Israel has been trying to get Schalit back ever since, but Hamas, who admits to having him, wants the release of over a thousand terrorists, including some key planners and specialists, which would result in even more terror attacks on Israelis. For this reason, Israel has refused to accept the Hamas demands. Israel has been unable to locate Schalit, but has discovered an elaborate Hamas operation to keep their prisoner well hidden.
Meanwhile, several of those involved with grabbing Schalit on the Gaza-Israeli border, have since died, seemingly in accidents. Some Palestinians have noted that the number of Schalit kidnappers dying like this defies the laws of probability. Now the Israelis have confirmed those suspicions, perhaps in an attempt to persuade Hamas to make more reasonable demands for Schalits release. Hamas appears unimpressed, although the surviving "heroes" of the kidnapping have kept out of sight.
Israel receives a lot of criticism, in the West, for its decades long campaign against key terrorist operatives. Critics call it assassination and murder. Israel considers it war and justified by the tactics their enemies use. Palestinians (and Arabs in general) call these dead terrorists martyrs and heroes. That includes the ones who have carried out attacks in Western countries. But many of those same nations continue to condemn Israel for what the U.S. and many Western nations have been doing. Israel considers this hypocritical, and continues to fight the war by rules the terrorists understand.