A Charlie Brown Christmas after the special first aired, they were no longer being regularly manufactured. The "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" has been used to comedic effect with people familiar with the special and has become synonymous with poorly executed or minimalist Christmas decorating. A model of the tree is offered by various retailers. Three lesser-known Christmas specials were produced decades after the 1965 original. A Charlie Brown Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated television special based on the comic strip "Peanuts", by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on
Elhanan Tannenbaum and is considered a wanted fugitive by the Israeli government. Tannenbaum was released in January 2004 as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah. The swap, mediated by Germany, resulted in the exchange of 435 prisoners held by Israel in return for Tannenbaum's release and the return of the bodies of three soldiers killed during an ambush along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Among the 435 people released were Mustafa Dirani and Abdel Karim Obeid. These two individuals were kidnapped, in 1994 and 1989 respectively, for use as bargaining chips in the effort to secure the release of the most famous of