Does the name Gilad Shalit ring a bell? For two weeks, the Israeli corporal taken captive by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip last month was mentioned almost daily in newspapers around the world.
The Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip eventually captured the world's attention and Corporal Shalit's name disappeared from public view.
Last week, the two Israeli soldiers captured on the Lebanese border did not have enough time to become known to their countrymen before the massive military attack on Hezbollah made them an obscure footnote.
But the marginalisation of the three soldiers, who are ostensibly the reason for the current display of Israel's military might, is entirely justified. Their capture has little to do with what is going on, other than having served as a trigger.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli leaders still demand the captives' release, but they make clear the real goal of the military operations is to change the rules of the game on both fronts.
In Gaza, where Israeli pressure continues in the shadow of the Lebanese flare-up, Israel is intent on putting an end to the daily rocketing by militants of Israeli towns and villages on the periphery. In the past, Israel has attempted to handle the problem with air or artillery strikes at missile teams or by targeted assassinations. Although many militants were hit in the latest flare-up, the rockets kept coming.
Israel has now used Corporal Shalit's capture as a lever with which to put pressure on the civilian population in Gaza, without whose support the rocket teams would find it difficult to operate.