Friday, July 18, 2008

A Child Killer's Homecoming?



Above: Samir Kuntar



"What can you say about a people who welcome a child murderer as a hero?"


This is the first sentence in an article by Mona Charen for Real Clear Politics published today. I read a brief post on Slate's XX Factor blog that led me to the article. I found the murder of Danny Haran (shot and thrown in the water) in front of his 4 year old daughter Einat to be horrible, as well as the subsequent murder of Einat (Kuntar repeatedly smashed her head against a rock with his rifle) to be horrific enough. Haran's wife, Smadar also accidentally suffocated their 2 year old daughter while they were hiding from Kuntar and his accomplices in a crawlspace. All of this happened in 1979. Kuntar was (depending on the source) 16 or 17 years old at the time he murdered Danny and Einat.


What is truly horrifying for me is the hero's welcome he has received in Lebanon after his release from an Israeli prison. Heroic? I don't see it.

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