Shlomo Goldwasser, whose son Ehud was abducted, together with fellow soldier Eldad Regev, by Hizbullah terrorists into Lebanon four months ago, says he knows absolutely nothing more about his son's fate than he did the day of the abduction.
"Four months have passed," he told Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler from his Nahariya home while wiping a tear from his eye, "and we know exactly what we knew on day one. We don't know a thing. Nothing. Nothing has changed. We have had no connection with the kidnappers, we have received no information from the Red Cross, we don't know where they are, no one has seen them, no word has been received from them. We just don't know a thing."
"You have to understand," the elder Goldwasser said. "I'm not involved in whatever the Prime Minister or someone appointed by him is doing. I can just say one thing: the bottom line is that many things were done, but the boys are not here."
"Look, there was a UN resolution that Israel fulfilled completely, as far as I know. The IDF left the entire area, we evacuated all the positions that we conquered - but the boys are still not here... I feel that not everything has been done."
An investigation into the kidnapping by retired Maj.-Gen. Doron Almog found that Galilee Formation Commander Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch should be demoted and not given another combat command position in the IDF. The report stated that though the Galilee Formation and Northern Command officers were aware of the high likelihood of an attempt to kidnap soldiers, "this awareness was not translated into preparedness on the ground, even during the incident itself."
Almog presented a plan authored by Hirsch to prevent kidnappings, and said, "If only everything here was actually implemented." He said that the patrol that was attacked, suffering four dead soldiers in addition to the two who were kidnapped, "set off almost as it was going on a day trip, instead of a military mission." Four other soldiers were killed shortly afterwards as they set off in pursuit of their comrades, when a Hizbullah-placed bomb exploded underneath their tank.
Hirsch proffered his resignation on Sunday morning, though he refused to assume responsibility for the abduction. "From the beginning of the war [in Lebanon]," he wrote in his resignation letter, "I have found myself exposed to a lack of support, to slander and to increasing harm to my good name. This is not the way to act towards a combat commander... It is my opinion that it would be correct to determine that concrete responsibility for mistakes and failures is found not only among the end units and their commanders; sometimes it would be appropriate for the responsibility to be taken by the highest levels."
"I have no need to take responsibility," Hirsch wrote, "for I never gave it away to anyone."
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz originally asked Hirsch to reconsider his decision, but Defense Minister Amir Peretz later accepted the resignation. It is a matter of dispute whether Hirsch has merely become the fall-guy, or was truly to blame. MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) said, "In principle, it would be very dangerous to begin a style of firing quality officers because of one-time failures... In warfare, unlike in engineering, there is nothing that can guarantee even 90% success. The best military leaders in history failed in battles that were sometimes critical... Good commanders who erred should be encouraged and strengthened."
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) disagrees: "In the Lebanon War, Hirsch's Formation and the entire IDF failed in their mission. Hirsch should have resigned the day after the war - not as an admission of guilt, but to take responsibility for the result... In resigning, Hirsch calls upon the Chief of Staff, who is responsible for the army's failure, to follow in his footsteps. Dan Halutz realizes that Hirsch's departure means he is next in line, and that's why he pressured him to stay on. We see that the Chief of Staff of the IDF, who was unable to defeat Hizbullah, is also not made of the stuff of commanders who know how to take personal responsibility; they would rather be fired in disgrace..."
Asked how he feels about Hirsch's resignation, Ehud Goldwasser's father said that he doesn't know Hirsch or his capabilities, "but if there was such a mess-up as they say, and man is really so irresponsible, the responsibility lies with those who appointed him, and they themselves should resign."
Finkler asked Goldwasser to recount the day that Udi was kidnapped. The missing soldier's father said, "We were in Namibia on a business trip, and I started packing up to go to South Africa. I turned on the TV for a second and there was a picture of Moshav Zar'it, with the caption saying that two soldiers were kidnapped. I knew that Udi was in Zar'it, and I immediately called Carmit, his wife. She sounded scared. I calmed her down, but I immediately reserved a flight home... Ever since then, our whole lives revolve only around one purpose - to get the boys home."
"Four months have passed," he told Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler from his Nahariya home while wiping a tear from his eye, "and we know exactly what we knew on day one. We don't know a thing. Nothing. Nothing has changed. We have had no connection with the kidnappers, we have received no information from the Red Cross, we don't know where they are, no one has seen them, no word has been received from them. We just don't know a thing."
"You have to understand," the elder Goldwasser said. "I'm not involved in whatever the Prime Minister or someone appointed by him is doing. I can just say one thing: the bottom line is that many things were done, but the boys are not here."
"Look, there was a UN resolution that Israel fulfilled completely, as far as I know. The IDF left the entire area, we evacuated all the positions that we conquered - but the boys are still not here... I feel that not everything has been done."
An investigation into the kidnapping by retired Maj.-Gen. Doron Almog found that Galilee Formation Commander Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch should be demoted and not given another combat command position in the IDF. The report stated that though the Galilee Formation and Northern Command officers were aware of the high likelihood of an attempt to kidnap soldiers, "this awareness was not translated into preparedness on the ground, even during the incident itself."
Almog presented a plan authored by Hirsch to prevent kidnappings, and said, "If only everything here was actually implemented." He said that the patrol that was attacked, suffering four dead soldiers in addition to the two who were kidnapped, "set off almost as it was going on a day trip, instead of a military mission." Four other soldiers were killed shortly afterwards as they set off in pursuit of their comrades, when a Hizbullah-placed bomb exploded underneath their tank.
Hirsch proffered his resignation on Sunday morning, though he refused to assume responsibility for the abduction. "From the beginning of the war [in Lebanon]," he wrote in his resignation letter, "I have found myself exposed to a lack of support, to slander and to increasing harm to my good name. This is not the way to act towards a combat commander... It is my opinion that it would be correct to determine that concrete responsibility for mistakes and failures is found not only among the end units and their commanders; sometimes it would be appropriate for the responsibility to be taken by the highest levels."
"I have no need to take responsibility," Hirsch wrote, "for I never gave it away to anyone."
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz originally asked Hirsch to reconsider his decision, but Defense Minister Amir Peretz later accepted the resignation. It is a matter of dispute whether Hirsch has merely become the fall-guy, or was truly to blame. MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) said, "In principle, it would be very dangerous to begin a style of firing quality officers because of one-time failures... In warfare, unlike in engineering, there is nothing that can guarantee even 90% success. The best military leaders in history failed in battles that were sometimes critical... Good commanders who erred should be encouraged and strengthened."
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) disagrees: "In the Lebanon War, Hirsch's Formation and the entire IDF failed in their mission. Hirsch should have resigned the day after the war - not as an admission of guilt, but to take responsibility for the result... In resigning, Hirsch calls upon the Chief of Staff, who is responsible for the army's failure, to follow in his footsteps. Dan Halutz realizes that Hirsch's departure means he is next in line, and that's why he pressured him to stay on. We see that the Chief of Staff of the IDF, who was unable to defeat Hizbullah, is also not made of the stuff of commanders who know how to take personal responsibility; they would rather be fired in disgrace..."
Asked how he feels about Hirsch's resignation, Ehud Goldwasser's father said that he doesn't know Hirsch or his capabilities, "but if there was such a mess-up as they say, and man is really so irresponsible, the responsibility lies with those who appointed him, and they themselves should resign."
Finkler asked Goldwasser to recount the day that Udi was kidnapped. The missing soldier's father said, "We were in Namibia on a business trip, and I started packing up to go to South Africa. I turned on the TV for a second and there was a picture of Moshav Zar'it, with the caption saying that two soldiers were kidnapped. I knew that Udi was in Zar'it, and I immediately called Carmit, his wife. She sounded scared. I calmed her down, but I immediately reserved a flight home... Ever since then, our whole lives revolve only around one purpose - to get the boys home."