Just been to the Walk for Gilad Shalit, and I am reminded of an event which happened in the mid-70s in war-torn Beirut.

As the civil war erupted in the Lebanese capital, one group kidnapped a Soviet diplomat. The next day, the group's leaders received a box in which two small spherical objects belonging to the leader's son were placed. The diplomat was released and no harm came to any further member of the Soviet diplomatic corps.

The message was clear: "Don't mess."

Now I am not advocating the kidnapping of the children of leading Hamas members, but you can't argue with success, can you?