Court Ruling: Army To Continue Efforts To Find Missing Soldiers
The family of an IDF soldier who has been missing since the Peace for Galilee war in 1982 has successfully fought against the army's intention to declare him a "fallen soldier whose burial place is unknown." In response to a petition yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered the army to continue consulting with the family, and postponed the next hearing for another six months. The petition dealt only with Yehuda Katz, but the army decided to hold off on declaring the death of the other two, Zecharia Baumel and Tzvi Feldman, as well.
The fateful battle took place in June 1982 in a valley just south of the Lebanese village of Sultan Yaqub. A battalion of mostly hesder yeshiva students was dispatched to take control of a critical three-way junction, but because of poor intelligence, they found themselves trapped on several sides by heavy Syrian artillery. Over 20 soldiers were killed, and three - Yehuda Katz, Zecharia Baumel, and Tzvi Feldman - were reported as missing. Soldiers who were with them in the battle could not later say what ultimately happened to the three, but several reports indicated that at least some of them were very badly wounded.
On the other hand, several hours after the battle, a reporter for Time Magazine reported that three Israeli soldiers were being publicly paraded in a procession of captured tanks through the streets of Damascus. Since the battle, there have been many conflicting reports regarding the whereabouts and condition of Israelis who could have been the three missing soldiers. Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian officials have made many references to information in their possession regarding the MIAs, but have been unwilling to further cooperate.
The bottom line, as Zecharia's father Yonah Baumel once said, is, "The [army's] official position is that they do not know. The unofficial position is that they think that the boys are dead. We keep getting information [that some of] them are alive. We are at a standoff - we can't prove it, they can't prove it." Baumel and the others feel, however, that the government has not been as firm as it could and should have been in demanding the release of either the prisoners or their bodies.
Pirchiya Katz, sister of Yehuda Katz, told Arutz-7 last night that Chief IDF Rabbi Weiss' decision to declare her brother dead "has no basis in reality. His predecessor, Rabbi Gad Navon, was never able to reach this decision - and we told Rabbi Weiss that, as long as he has no additional proof, he also must not. He did not listen, however [and the Court ruled against him]... He went to [former Sephardic Chief] Rabbis Ovadiah Yosef and Mordechai Eliyahu, and the current Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Shlomo Amar, and obtained their agreement - but then we went to them and showed them the information we had, and they, in their greatness, retracted their consent." The Supreme Court, she said, based their ruling on that and other information, some of which is still secret.
The families believe that their sons are being held in a Syrian or Lebanese jail. The names of the missing soldiers are: Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben [son of] Sarah, Zecharia Shlomo ben Miriam, and Tzvi ben Penina. Two other missing IDF soldiers are Ron [ben Batya] Arad and Guy [ben Rina] Hever. For more information, see <"http://www.mia.org.il">.
The family of an IDF soldier who has been missing since the Peace for Galilee war in 1982 has successfully fought against the army's intention to declare him a "fallen soldier whose burial place is unknown." In response to a petition yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered the army to continue consulting with the family, and postponed the next hearing for another six months. The petition dealt only with Yehuda Katz, but the army decided to hold off on declaring the death of the other two, Zecharia Baumel and Tzvi Feldman, as well.
The fateful battle took place in June 1982 in a valley just south of the Lebanese village of Sultan Yaqub. A battalion of mostly hesder yeshiva students was dispatched to take control of a critical three-way junction, but because of poor intelligence, they found themselves trapped on several sides by heavy Syrian artillery. Over 20 soldiers were killed, and three - Yehuda Katz, Zecharia Baumel, and Tzvi Feldman - were reported as missing. Soldiers who were with them in the battle could not later say what ultimately happened to the three, but several reports indicated that at least some of them were very badly wounded.
On the other hand, several hours after the battle, a reporter for Time Magazine reported that three Israeli soldiers were being publicly paraded in a procession of captured tanks through the streets of Damascus. Since the battle, there have been many conflicting reports regarding the whereabouts and condition of Israelis who could have been the three missing soldiers. Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian officials have made many references to information in their possession regarding the MIAs, but have been unwilling to further cooperate.
The bottom line, as Zecharia's father Yonah Baumel once said, is, "The [army's] official position is that they do not know. The unofficial position is that they think that the boys are dead. We keep getting information [that some of] them are alive. We are at a standoff - we can't prove it, they can't prove it." Baumel and the others feel, however, that the government has not been as firm as it could and should have been in demanding the release of either the prisoners or their bodies.
Pirchiya Katz, sister of Yehuda Katz, told Arutz-7 last night that Chief IDF Rabbi Weiss' decision to declare her brother dead "has no basis in reality. His predecessor, Rabbi Gad Navon, was never able to reach this decision - and we told Rabbi Weiss that, as long as he has no additional proof, he also must not. He did not listen, however [and the Court ruled against him]... He went to [former Sephardic Chief] Rabbis Ovadiah Yosef and Mordechai Eliyahu, and the current Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Shlomo Amar, and obtained their agreement - but then we went to them and showed them the information we had, and they, in their greatness, retracted their consent." The Supreme Court, she said, based their ruling on that and other information, some of which is still secret.
The families believe that their sons are being held in a Syrian or Lebanese jail. The names of the missing soldiers are: Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben [son of] Sarah, Zecharia Shlomo ben Miriam, and Tzvi ben Penina. Two other missing IDF soldiers are Ron [ben Batya] Arad and Guy [ben Rina] Hever. For more information, see <"http://www.mia.org.il">.