Karnit Goldwasser, wife of kidnapped IDF reservist Ehud Goldwasser, met Tuesday night with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to appeal to him to abandon the process of trying to determine whether her husband can be legally declared dead.
Olmert authorized all intelligence information to be turned over to IDF Chief Rabbi Brigadier General Avi Ronsky to make the complicated determination as to whether Goldwasser and fellow reservist Eldad Regev can be classified dead. The decision is one that is complex and must be made only by the IDF Chief Rabbi, inasmuch as it involves intricate Jewish legal issues.
Neither captive has been seen or heard from since they were kidnapped in the cross-border attack by Hizbullah terrorists on July 12, 2006 that ignited the Second Lebanon War.
In a letter sent to the prime minister on Tuesday, Goldwasser's attorneys stated, "You are hereby asked to instruct the various authorities not to act in any way to have the soldiers' status changed... Should you decline, we will have no option but to seek legal recourse."
The prime minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were given 48 hours within which to respond to the letter. Karnit Goldwasser said she would file the petition with the High Court of Justice to prevent the government from declaring the two men as legally dead.
Declaring the two men dead would enable Israel to drastically reduce the "price" for their return in German-mediated negotiations with Hizbullah. The group has demanded the release of Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar as well as hundreds of other terrorists, many of whom as responsible for the injuries and deaths of Israeli civilians and soldiers, in exchange for the two captives.