BICOM

The body of Zachary Baumel, an Israeli soldier killed in the Lebanon war, was returned to Israel yesterday.

Baumel went missing 37 years ago in the battle of Sultan Yaaqub in 1982 and the Israeli army and intelligence services have been searching for him ever since. His body was recovered in an operation led a special Israel Defence Forces (IDF) unit before being transferred back to Israel on an El Al flight via an unnamed third country thought to be Russia.

Once in Israel, the body was identified at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir by the IDF’s Chief Rabbi. Baumel will be buried this evening at 19:00 in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Baumel’s brother, Shimon Baumel, and sister, Osnat Haberman last night. Netanyahu told them: “Usually for bereaved families life is divided into two: before and after. For you, life is divided into three: Before, during and now. We have made good on our commitment.”

Osnat Haberman told the Prime Minister: “I told my mother years ago that it was not enough to want and to search. There needs to be someone with the winning card and now you have brought it”.

Sergeants Yehuda Katz and Tzvi Feldman are still missing from the battle of Sultan Yaaqub and the IDF said it is committed to finding and returning their bodies.

Previous attempts to recover Baumel led to the recovery of part of his military dog tag, given to Israel by Yasser Arafat as part of negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the 1990s.

Last night, President Reuven Rivlin said: “We have received the moving and painful news that the body of First Sergeant Zachary Baumel has been brought home to Israel. Thirty-seven unbearable years of painful waiting and doubts have come to an end thanks to the determined and ceaseless work of the IDF and Israel’s intelligence community.”

In a live TV broadcast, Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “Citizens of Israel, this is one of the most moving moments in my years as Prime Minister of Israel … Soon Zachary will be brought to his eternal resting place with a Jewish burial.”

Netanyahu arrived in Moscow this morning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Alongside Netanyahu, Putin confirmed that the Russian military along with the Syrians found the remains of Zachary Baumel.

Tal Lev Ram in Maariv said of the return of Baumel’s body: “Before all else, it illustrates the State of Israel’s commitment to do everything possible and to invest every possible intelligence and operational resource to bring our boys back home. It is also an expression of the operational and intelligence capabilities of Israel’s espionage services.”