JERUSALEM: Former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) hostage, Columbian-French politician Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio was freed recently in a spectacular derring-do operation by Columbian security forces – with the help of ex-Israeli commandos.

Betancourt, a former senator and anti-corruption activist, was kidnapped over six years ago as she campaigned for the Columbian presidency as a Green. Her decision to campaign in an area of Columbia with a high guerrilla presence, despite warnings from both the police and the government not to, enabled the FARC to capture her with relative ease.

During her subsequent rescue the Columbian security forces managed to trick her captors into believing they were from a leftist non-governmental organization.

Betancourt's captors put her on a helicopter that arrived as scheduled, little knowing that their comrades-in-arms were actually undercover …