The Bergdahl-Taliban swap was still better than the Israeli prisoner exchanges. In 2011, Israel freed more than 1,000 Hamas terrorists, in exchange for just one soldier (Gilad Shalit). These terrorists have been responsible for a total of 569 Israeli civilian deaths.
Well yes, except for a couple of tiny caveats:
1. The Israeli definition of "terrorist" is even broader than the American one. It basically means "anyone we don't like". Like most Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli jails, the vast majority of prisoners released in the Shalit deal were political prisoners, who were not directly involved with "terrorism" (in the narrow definition of the word). Also, most of them were not affiliated with Hamas (not that it actually matters).
2. That 569 number is entirely fabricated. It's more than half of all Israeli terror casualties since the first intifada...
3. And here's what most people don't know: quietly, gradually, without anyone noticing, Israel has been rounding these people up and throwing them back in prison. I don't have the exact updated numbers, but at least a third of those released to the West Bank are now back in prison (possibly much more by now). As for those released to Gaza and elsewhere, they are a minority and not much concern to Israel anyway. What's the point of a prisoner exchange if one side can start rounding people back up immediately after releasing them? Like the word "terrorist", the word "deal" also has a murky definition in Israel.
