The problem is, they want Israel to release hundreds or thousands of really bad people, in return for the few Israeli prisoners they have. And the recidivism rate among prisoners that Israel releases in such trades is huge, like 80 percent or something. E.g., 80 percent of the time Israel releases a prisoner, that person goes out and tries to kill Israelis again. So if Israel *did* agree to the trade, the hundreds of people they released would ultimately kill hundreds of Israelis. Balance the lives of hundreds against the lives of a few, and you get...no trade.

Now if they'd trade equal numbers, I'm sure the Israelis would be glad to do that. Six people for six people, whatever. Even if the six released ended up killing six Israelis later, well, they'd still break even anyway.

I don't see this ending for a while. The Israelis, as a people, seem to be pretty unified now in supporting this military effort to wipe out or severely cripple Hezbollah. In memory of the Americans that Hezbollah has killed, I wish the Israelis the best of luck in their mission.