So it seems like the Israeli government has reached a deal with Hamas over the return of their one little captive soldier, Gilad Shalit.
The poor Ashkenazi fella, just 25 this year, was kidnapped 5 years ago by Hamas, in a cross border raid. Of course Hamas used it immediately to negotiate the release of palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel always refused.
I don't know what happened in Israel's internal politics that made Netanyahu accept a deal right now. Maybe the Israeli youth demonstrations have something to do with it, I don't know nor care. I don't also care about the huge media campaign that has been going on in Israel about the kid. I guess the parents of the kid had some money, and there is always lots of sympathy available for a poor kid kidnapped by those Hamas thugs.
What is important, in my opinion, is the deal reached. Israel will release 1000 prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit. One damn thousand!
caption="I'm worth more than 1000 arabs all together"
Which begs the question: what is so awesome about this kid? Well that's a fallacy. To say it in economic terms, the utillity for the Israelian government of having back this adorable little nerd is bigger than the potential danger of releasing 1000 run-of-the-mill standard palestinian thugs.
But of course in general terms the questions stands: what is there about this kid that justifies his exchange for 1000 arabs? Israelis, as ethnocentric as they are, are also pretty liberal, and most people will ask themselves the question: is one Gilad Shalit worth more than one thousand arabs?
The answer is: well, yeah. Pretty much. Your random Ashkenazi is smarter, has more productive potential that 1000 random arabs. In IT circles (to which I don't belong) it is often said that one good programmer is more productive than a thousand average programmers.
Well one white jew is worth more than one thousand palestinians. This is the biggest proof of HBD than any government anywhere has ever given.
Thanks Netanyahu.
