Noah, perhaps Ulrich should hear what Samir Kuntar himself has to say today. Alongside his venomous hatred of Israel is not a small amount of envy. Here’s what he told Al-Manar TV on Thursday:

I’m jealous of the Zionists, who don’t spare any effort in bringing back captured soldiers or soldiers’ bodies… Seriously, we are jealous of our enemy and its care for a corpse and how it goes to the end of the world in order to return it, and of its concerns for captives and how it will go to the very edge to bring them back.

There’s something to what he’s saying. The reason Ulrich is wrong is that Kuntar was no hostage, but a convicted murderer. The most important reason why Israel is willing to undertake a deal that on the face of it is so bad, is to send a clear message to its own soldiers heading out to battle: Fight with all you’ve got, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you come home.

Of course, winning the war would have been better…