Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad, all things considered. Compared with Morris, Kamel seems downright upbeat.

Yesterday we linked to an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post criticizing Orthodox outreach programs aimed at non-Orthodox young people. One of the groups in question — the Orthodox Union’s NCSY — has actually been receiving some good press, with participants on one of its Israel trips visiting the home of Ehud Goldwasser, one of the two slain soldiers returned by Hezbollah on Wednesday.

The New York Times:

In Nahariya, the hometown of Sergeant Goldwasser, which is a few miles
south of Rosh Hanikra, residents and a busload of American teenagers in the country for a summer education program lighted candles and prayed.

The Jerusalem Post:

At one point, in front of the two story red roofed Nahariya home where the Goldwassers were sitting waiting for news, a bus load of American teens touring Israel pulled up and lit a few tea lights on the sidewalk.

“When we heard what was happening here we wanted to come and show our support,” said Gwenn Barney of Pittsburgh.

Here’s the press release issued by the O.U., with comments from some of the participants: (more…)

The day after Israel’s prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah, there was pain and anger in the Jewish state.

On YouTube, Israel is trying to sway hearts and minds about the moral depravity of newly released Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar, who was convicted of killing four Israelis, including a 4-year-old girl and her father, in 1979.

Israel tells the Kuntar story here:

Here’s an Arabic-language video of an Israeli official talking about Kuntar (we’re working on getting an English transcript):

Not everyone in the Arab world is impressed by Hezbollah’s accomplishments in the prisoner swap deal, the Jerusalem Post reports.

However, the dominant viewpoint seemed to be the one shared by most Israelis — that the deal represented a victory for Hezbollah and strengthened the Iranian-backed Shiite group’s standing.

For more Arab world headlines, see here.

The wrenching images of today’s prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah — in which the Regev and Goldwasser families learned that their loves ones were dead while Israel handed over Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar to Hezbollah — commanded the attention of all of Israel today.

Israeli media anticipated and reported on the event with a combination of pain, anger and resignation:

Media Line’s David Harris, in Ynet: “The poster on the Lebanese side of the border said it all: Israel sheds tears of sorrow, Lebanon sheds tears of joy.”

Ma’ariv has an interview with the man who captured Samir Kuntar (Hebrew): “After 29 years, Rami Salmon recalls the capture of the terrorist and tells of the thought that still bugs him: Would he have changed history if he shot him?”

Ha’aretz editorial: “The cabinet’s approval of the prisoner swap with Hezbollah, despite the ‘blatantly unsatisfactory’ report the organization delivered on the fate of Ron Arad, requires the cabinet to now act urgently to free Gilad Shalit.”

Jerusalem Post editorial: “The Lebanese people and government - and those others in the Arab world, including among the Palestinians, so delighted by Kuntar’s release - might want to ask themselves whether this monster is worthy of such glorification. Is he the kind of man they want as their idol? And if so, what does that say about them?”

JTA’s Dina Kraft has a piece in The New York Times on the old wound the swap deal reopened for the Israeli family whose life Kuntar destroyed.

Keshet TV has video footage of Goldwasser and Regev in happier times, on reserve duty in 2004.

Lebanon declared a national holiday Wednesday to welcome home Kuntar and the other terrorists released from Israel (Channel 10 and Ha’aretz): Watch video.

We’ve heard a lot of things about Long Island Jewish businessman Morris Talansky since he was linked two months ago to alleged financial improprieties involving Ehud Olmert. Now comes New York magazine with a piece offering more details about the “Great Neck macher.”

A transcript of secret tapes obtained by New York Magazine suggests that Talansky can indeed be willful and determined, and even threatening.

Among the details:

And then, of course, there’s the stuff we already knew, like that Talansky is under investigation in Nassau County for allegedly assaulting his 84-year-old former dentist over a bill dispute.

Back in Israel, Talasnky, 75, is scheduled to be cross-examined this week by Olmert’s lawyers.

Does Israel’s warmongering on Iran serve the interests of the Jewish state? Some former Israeli military officials tell Israel’s Channel 10 that Israel would be better off speaking softly and carrying a big stick.

According to the English-language Web site of the president of the State of Israel, Moshe Katsav is still president. The Hebrew site, however, features the current president, Shimon Peres. Oversight or conspiracy?

The New York Times has three opinions pieces today calling for a reversal in various elements of the Bush administration’s Middle East policy.

1) Barack Obama reaffirms his commitment to pulling out U.S troops from Iraq:

The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

2) James Rubin argues that the United States should open a diplomatic post in Iran:

America has not sent diplomats to Iran since the 1979 hostage crisis. Washington’s interests are managed by the Swiss government in Tehran. But as in other hostile countries, like Cuba, Washington could set up an interests section in Tehran even while formal diplomatic relations are suspended. Housed in the Swiss Embassy, this post would process visa requests and handle other consular matters.

Such an outpost should not be seen as or used for an intelligence operation. Rather, it would give American diplomats an opportunity to observe the country’s complex politics firsthand. There are no current American foreign service officers who have ever been posted there. Setting up an interests section should help ensure that American policy is not born of ignorance.

3) Roger Cohen explores (online) the Scandinavian view that the Unite States and the West have made a big mistake by shunning engagement with enemies and failing to keep channels open to Hamas and Syria:

Norway’s message to the United States is blunt: the next administration, whether headed by Barack Obama or John McCain, should pronounce the war on terror over. Because it has tended to isolate the United States, polarize the world, inflate the enemy, conflate diverse movements and limit scope for dialogue, its time has passed.