Tami Arad, wife of missing navigator Ron Arad, appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and asked him not to carry out operations to recover her husband's remains if they could endanger soldiers.
"In our view, the sanctity of life comes before the obligation to return a fighter’s remains for burial," Tammy Arad wrote in a Facebook post responding to Friday night's operation in Lebanon.
"Like the people of Israel, we saw the reports in the media. We had an enormous miracle last night," she wrote. "After this night, we understand that our words until now were not understood by decision-makers, and therefore it is important for us to clarify: Our desire to know what happened to Ron stops the moment it involves risk to IDF soldiers. In our view, the sanctity of life comes before the obligation to return a fighter’s remains for burial. This is our worldview also regarding our loved one who disappeared about 40 years ago."
"We as a family have declared more than once that we oppose actions that would endanger soldiers. Therefore, we ask to turn to the Prime Minister of Israel and say - we thank everyone engaged in intelligence activity related to Ron. We appreciate the commitment of the State of Israel, and yet we ask in every possible way: Do not order operations that carry even the slightest risk to soldiers."
She noted, "For 40 years we have lived with the fact that Ron is missing. We want to know what happened to Ron, but not at any cost."
"The sanctity of life is above all closure and certainty for us. We prefer to live with the painful possibility that Ron’s remains are buried in Lebanon rather than wake up in the morning knowing that an IDF soldier was wounded, or G-d forbid killed, in an operation to bring back his remains, if they are indeed his remains. We thank the IDF soldiers and security forces and appreciate those who have acted on Ron’s behalf, and we ask that our request to sanctify life be respected."
Ron Arad was captured by the Amal organization in Lebanon on October 16, 1986, after he was forced to abandon his Phantom aircraft during an operational mission in southern Lebanon. He has been considered missing since May 5, 1988, when contact with him was lost. In 2016, Israeli Military Intelligence submitted a report estimating that Arad died in the early years following his disappearance, though not all intelligence officials accepted that conclusion, and some assessments suggested he may have died later.