Kuntar was one of five prisoners released this week in an exchange with the Lebanese group Hezbollah. In return, Israel received the bodies of two soldiers kidnapped in 2006.

The video has been posted on the Foreign Ministry Web site and on YouTube, IsraelNN.com reported Thursday.

"For Hezbollah, Samir Kuntar is a first-rate hero, while for Israel and the rest of the civilized world he is the most despicable of murderers," the spokesman declares in Arabic. "He is no freedom fighter, but an

abominable murderer."

Kuntar was serving multiple life sentences for the 1979 killing of a police officer and a father and his young daughter, who was beaten to death. Another daughter was accidentally smothered by her mother as they hid.

The video ends with a warning that Israel's response if Hezbollah engages in kidnapping will be "tougher than it was in 2006."