A version of Jack and the Beanstalk, an old child's fairy tale features Jack, a lazy kid who disobeys his extremely poor and widowed mother.  They are so poor that  they sell all the furniture of a little cottage to buy bread, until at last there was nothing left worth selling. Only a good cow, Milky White, remained, and she gave milk every morning, which they took to market and sold. But one sad day Milky White gave no milk, and then things looked bad indeed.

Jack eventually trades the cow for magic beans, enabling Jack to steal and eventually murder a giant.  Now everybody calls Jack a hero and everybody lived happily ever after, except for the giant, of course.

The 21st century version features Samir Kuntar.  In this story, Einat Haran, playing the  part of the giant, was only four years old when  terrorist Samir Kuntar laid her head on a rock and killed her by smashing her skull with the butt of his gun, in 1979. In front of her lay the bleeding body of her father, shot point blank by Kuntar, who made sure the execution would be the last thing little Einat would see.

Today, Israel handed over Kuntar along with four other prisoners and the bodies of dozens of Hezbollah terrorists in exchange for the remains of two Israeli soldiers taken captive two years ago whose family knew nothing of their fate until this morning.

Kuntar received a heros welcome in Lebanon .  The convicted murderer went from prisoner to superstar, admired even by moderate Arab leaders such as Lebanese president Michel Suleiman. He welcomed Kuntar by saying: "I wish to thank all those who fought and brought this glorious victory. Samir Kuntar, your people and country did not forget you. Blessed be the resistance that led to this achievement".

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas didn't hesitate either to bless the liberated prisoners and their families, reserving special wishes for Kuntar

There does not appear to be a generally agreed upon happy ending to this story. "Samir Kuntar is not a shoplifter; he is an atrocious and vicious killer. He is free today not because of his innocence, but out of Israel s vow to meet its moral obligation to bring its sons back for burial"  Israeli President Shimon Peres said yesterday, "I should like to emphasize what is self-evident - that this decision in no way constitutes forgiveness to the murderer for his abominable and reprehensible crimes. I neither forget nor forgive", he added.  He then continued  "In Lebanon and elsewhere in the Arab world today, they are making a hero out of a despicable, cold-blooded murderer. In Israel , we are mourning our two sons and embracing their families in their grief"

From a hero to a murderer, it depends on the prism you use. From what we can tell, it seems Senator Obama would call Kuntar a hero.