It's now over 1,000 days since Elchanan Tenenbaum was abducted by Lebanese Hizbullah terrorists, and his family is more concerned over his fate than ever before. Hizbullah chief Sheikh Nasrallah hinted last night for the first time that his Israeli captive might not be alive.
"We said in the past," Nasrallah told a crowd, "that we had three soldiers whose fate was unknown, and another Israeli - Tenenbaum - who was alive. Now, months have passed, and we say that Tenenbaum's fate, too, is unknown. Who knows if he is alive?" An IDF reserves Colonel, Tenenbaum was kidnapped on October 15, 2000. It had long been thought that Tenenbaum was taken in Europe, but the latest information is that he was actually abducted while in Abu Dhabi.
The three soldiers to whom Nasrallah referred are Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Souad. They were kidnapped on Israel's northern border about a week before Tenenbaum, and have been declared dead by the IDF Rabbinate.
Nasrallah also threatened to take more Israeli captives "if the negotiations [with Israel] do not succeed." Tenenbaum's son Uri told Ynet that Nasrallah is showing signs of strain, "as PA prisoners are being freed, while his men aren't." At the same time, Uri said that his family is "more frightened than ever" over his father's fate.
Arab terrorist groups are also holding at least four other Israelis whose fates are unknown: Yehuda Katz, Zachary Baumel, and Tzvi Feldman, who were captured during the Sultan Yaaqub battle in June 1982; navigator Ron Arad, who was felled over Lebanon in 1986; and possibly Guy Hever, a soldier who disappeared in the Golan not far from the Syrian border in August 1997. Click here for more information.
A year ago, the Knesset passed the initial reading of a POW-MIA Bill, sponsored by then-MK Ze'ev Boim. The bill stipulates that no future peace agreement with Syria, Lebanon or the Palestinian Authority is valid unless the partner to the treaty has handed over all information it has concerning the fate of Israel's missing POWs, MIAs, and abducted citizens. Boim has since become a Deputy Minister, and progress on the bill has been stalled. MK Yechiel Chazan of the Likud is now sponsoring it, and his aide told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today that he is working on expediting its passage.