This is from the BBC:

I was very happy for all the prisoners and their families as they were reunited after years of unlawful separation and inhumane treatment, but especially for the al-Ghouls who live in Mughraga, central Gaza, close to the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim.

Omar al-Ghoul was a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He received a triple life sentence from an Israeli court 24 years ago for his role in attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza and for joining a secret cell of fighters.

OK so let’s get this straight: members of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed branch (meaning they sanctify the murder of Israeli Jews) are “unlawfully separated” from their families – that is, they were in prison for terrorism.

This is a bad thing to do, as they miss their grandchildren terribly.

This is followed by some sentimental nonsense about broken-up families and the pains of separation:

It has been difficult to grow up without getting to know his dad. “It’s like you are told you have a father but you have never seen him,” Ibrahim told me.

Suheir has always said that her husband Omar is not a murderer, but a hero. He was fighting for our freedom and our dignity. He never wanted to fight anyone but living under the Israeli occupation is very tough.

So Suheir was in an Israeli prison for killing people, which was a heroic duty. Once that is established – that killing isn’t murder if it can be called “freedom-fighting” – then one begins to comprehend the author’s mindset. (No mention here that Israel ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005, the year before Shalit was kidnapped.)

What one doesn’t comprehend is how a quick run-through of the Hamas Charter, disguised as a victim’s tale, makes it onto the BBC website as a “viewpoint.”

I also believe Gilad Shalit was a legitimate target for capture. As I remember, he was inside a tank while on patrol near the border with Gaza at the time. He was a soldier in the Israeli army, which has murdered Palestinian women and children. The world should not value an Israeli’s life more than a Palestinian’s.

Wait, Shalit was near the Gaza border? He wasn’t in Gaza, you see, but he was near enough to be considered game (translation: he was in Israel). And he may never have killed anyone, but other Israeli soldiers have, and that was enough to make Gilad Shalit guilty of murder.

Maybe we should turn this logic around, and make all Palestinians guilty because some Palestinians have murdered Israelis. This is the logic of Hatfields vs. McCoys. And it’s in the BBC. Shame, shame, London.

But hey, it’s just another viewpoint, right?