Opposition is mounting to any prisoner-exchange deal that does not include Ron Arad. After studying the Winograd Report today, a majority of members of the Knesset Secret Services Subcommittee now say they object to any deal that does not include Arad. The Winograd Report states that there is no evidence proving that Ron Arad - who was captured in Lebanon in 1986, was later sold to Iran, and has not been heard from since - is not alive.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the State Prosecution has dropped its objections to the publication of information about the circumstances of the abduction of Elchanan Tenenbaum. Such information, if released, is liable to lead to a drop in public sympathy for him, despite the fact that he has been in Hizbullah captivity for three years and is in ill health. The prisoner deal currently under negotiation includes his return to Israel, as well as that of the bodies of three Hizbullah-killed soldiers, in exchange for an unknown number of Arab terrorists and prisoners.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the State Prosecution has dropped its objections to the publication of information about the circumstances of the abduction of Elchanan Tenenbaum. Such information, if released, is liable to lead to a drop in public sympathy for him, despite the fact that he has been in Hizbullah captivity for three years and is in ill health. The prisoner deal currently under negotiation includes his return to Israel, as well as that of the bodies of three Hizbullah-killed soldiers, in exchange for an unknown number of Arab terrorists and prisoners.