It was not only a moral decision- it was a Jewish one!

Submitted by Dona Inselberg (Israel), Feb 3, 2004 at 08:09

Dear Mr. Daniel Pipes,

I am sorry to hear that you labeled the deal with Hizbollah as Israel's decline. As an Israeli citizen living in Israel I doubt very much that this is the case. I personally know one of the families of the dead soldiers and I know how much it meant to them to get their son's body back and be able to bury it in our Holy Land and greive the 7 days of traditional "Shiva". In Judaism, greiving is not allowed unless the body is physically buried in a religous ceremony. Also, the it is very important to get back the physical body of every dead Jew since the wholeness and state of the body has great significance in Judaism.

As a past Israeli soldier I am proud that my country went to such extreme efforts to get back 3 soldiers' bodies since I know they would do that for every soldier or citizen, it is a message to all the soldiers serving Israel now under hard and trying times- Israel will always be with You!

As every religion has its important points this is one of Judaism's.

Thank you for your time.

Warm Regards from Israel.

Dona Inselberg

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