BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A Lebanese terrorist released from an Israeli prison is urging Palestinians to kidnap more Israeli soldiers.
Samir Kuntar -- who was freed from prison in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers -- issued the call to militants in a speech transmitted by satellite to a Gaza rally in support of Palestinian prisoners, Ynetnews.com reported. The Israeli soldiers were Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were killed by Hezbollah on Israel's northern border in 2006.
"I call on the resistance organizations to kidnap more Israeli soldiers and not to make do with just one, because the number of (Palestinian) prisoners is large," Kuntar was quoted as saying.
"We will never feel entirely free unless we bring on the release of all prisoners. The persistence of resistance organizations in the Gilad Shalit affair is the best proof of the responsibility we feel towards the issue of prisoners," he said, referring to the Israeli soldier captured in a cross border raid in June 2006, who has been held incommunicado in Gaza ever since.
Speaking at the rally, Hamas appointed Prime Minister Ismail Haniya accused the international community of ignoring the plight of 8,000 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel and focusing its efforts on Shalit's release, Ma'an news agency said.
In 1980, Kuntar was sentenced to four life sentences by an Israeli court for the attempted kidnapping of an Israeli family in Nahariya the previous year, which resulted in the deaths of four Israelis including a 4-year-old girl. He was released in July 2008.
