As someone who has served in an Israeli tank unit near Kerem Shalom, I have nothing but sympathy for the bereaved families of Lieut. Hanan Barak and Sgt. Pavel Slutsker, killed in a daring Palestinian commando raid in which Corp. Gilad Shalit was taken captive. But some perspective and some context are necessary.
This tank base was one of the locations from which Israel has been relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip for several weeks. Further, just one day earlier, on Saturday, Israeli commandos had raided Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, and captured two brothers, Mustafa and Osama Mu’ammar. All of this is well-known, but did not make it to the front page. Can it be that Palestinian lives are nothing, Israeli lives everything?
Naftali Lavie, Toronto