تقارير من الصحف الإسرائيلية تحكي كيفية اعادة رفات الجندي زكاري بوميل من سوريا بمساعدة الروس/Israeli Reports Covering The Returning Of The Remains Of Israeli Soldier, Zachary Baumel From Syria With Russian Help
Israeli Reports Covering The Returning Of The Remains Of Israeli Soldier, Zachary Baumel From Syria With Russian Help تقارير من الصحف الإسرائيلية تحكي كيفية اعادة رفات الجندي زكاري بوميل من سوريا بمساعدة الروس
إسرائيل تستعيد رفات جندي فُقِد في لبنان عام 1982 تل أبيب: «الشرق الأوسط أونلاين»/03 نيسان/19/أعلنت إسرائيل اليوم (الأربعاء)، أنها استعادت رفات جندي فقد في معركة السلطان يعقوب بالبقاع اللبناني عام 1982. وقال جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي للصحافيين، إن رفات الجندي زخاري بوميل المولود بالولايات المتحدة بات في إسرائيل، مبيناً أنه تم التأكد من أن الجثة تعود إليه بعد فحص للحمض النووي قام به الطب الشرعي. وأضاف أنه تم إعادة الجثة بواسطة عملية عسكرية وليس من خلال صفقة تبادل أسرى. وأوضح الجيش أن جنديين آخرين لا يزالان مفقودين منذ هذه المعركة التي وقعت يومي العاشر والحادي عشر من يونيو (حزيران) 1982.
Analysis/Secret Burial Place, Intel Feat, and a 3rd Country: Behind the Retrieval of the Israeli Soldier’s Body Amos Harel/Haaretz/April 04/19 Achievement is also a testimony to the extraordinary commitment Israeli society shows toward its fighters and fallen soldiers in an era of eroding solidarity. With the return of the body of Zachary Baumel, the battle of Sultan Yacoub – one of the Israel Defense Forces’ toughest battles of the first Lebanon War – is back on the agenda. At the start of the war, a few hours before a cease-fire with Syria, an Israeli Armored Corps battalion was on its way to the Beirut-Damascus road when it was surrounded by Syrian forces. Other IDF forces came to rescue the trapped soldiers, and over the course of the battle, 20 soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded. The battle was considered a major IDF failure and a source of pride for the Syrian army. There were soon serious complaints about the IDF’s readiness for the battle and the way it was conducted. In their book, “The Lebanon Israel War 1982,” journalists Ze’ev Schiff and Ehud Yaari wrote that the army had intelligence about the scope of Syrian forces in the battle zone, including aerial photos, but the information didn’t reach the field. It was also claimed that the soldiers’ mission had changed, but that change wasn’t conveyed to the field, either. In the heat of battle, two Israeli tanks disappeared. The commander of one of them, Yehuda Katz, disappeared and is considered missing in action to this day. The second tank had four crew members: the commander, Hezi Shai, was captured by the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and was returned to Israel three years later in the Jibril deal. The radioman, Arik Lieberman, was captured by the Syrian army and returned alive as well. The other two crew members, Zvi Feldman and Baumel, were missing in action until the announcement confirming Baumel’s death on Wednesday. Over the years, conflicting reports were published about the fate of the three MIAs. In 2004, the IDF chief chaplain sought to declare them fallen soldiers whose burial place was not known, but the soldiers’ families resisted the move. From time to time the families were given false hope about the bodies being discovered, or received messages and hints from various sources. During the 1990s, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat gave part of Baumel’s dog tag to his father Yona. The PA claimed that members of Palestinian organizations who took part in the fighting in the Bekaa Valley buried the three after the battle. In 2003 there was a report from Lebanon that three skeletons were uncovered that might be the MIAs, but it was later determined that the skeletons were probably Palestinian. The Syrian civil war raised hopes in Israel that the chaos there could be exploited to obtain details about the MIAs’ fate. In 2016, through Russian mediation, a tank was transferred to Israel, which according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of those in which the three MIAs had been, but it was noted that it may not have been their tank but another that had operated in the sector. Last year it was reported that Russian soldiers were wounded in an attempt to locate the body of an Israeli soldier in an area controlled by the Islamic State, and that a Syrian rebel group was searching for the remains of the three to return them to Israel. Baumel’s father Yona died in 2009 after devoting his life to worldwide efforts to determine what had happened to his son. At the end of his life, he made harsh allegations against the IDF and the state. He accused them of deceiving the family, and said that they wanted to whitewash the affair and had argued there was no point in continuing the search since the three were dead. Yehuda Katz’s mother died in 2011, also without knowing what happened to her son. Along with the two still missing from Sultan Yacoub, the IDF defines two additional soldiers as MIAs: Ron Arad, the navigator who was captured in Lebanon in 1986, and Guy Hever, an artillery soldier who disappeared in the Golan Heights in 1997. Unlike soldiers who are declared dead but whose burial place is unknown, families of MIAs do not observe shiva, the seven days of mourning, and they are not recognized by the defense establishment as bereaved families. As of now there are around 100 soldiers whose burial place is unknown, most of whom were killed in the War of Independence. The most recent one is Oron Shaul, who was killed in the battle of Shujaiyeh during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 (Hadar Goldin, who was killed on “Black Friday” in Rafah, was declared dead but still missing). The status of such soldiers can change decades later. In May 2018, the burial place of Liebke Schaffer was discovered, 70 years after she was killed in the War of Independence, and in November the remains of Yakir Naveh, who was killed in a plane crash in 1962, were found in Lake Kinneret.
Putin to Netanyahu: We found remains of missing soldier Ynetnews/Reuters/April 04/19 Russia takes credit for the repatriation of deceased MIA Zachary Baumel, says it was a joint Syrian effort; Putin says he is happy the soldier will now get ‘necessary military honors at home’ Russian President Vladimir Putin told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that Russian special forces troops in Syria had found the remains of a U.S.-born Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel, missing since 1982, allowing him to be finally buried. Speaking at talks with Netanyahu in Moscow, Putin was cited by Russian news agencies as saying that it had been a tough task to locate his remains. “Our soldiers together with Syrian partners established his resting place. We are very happy that they will be able to give him the necessary military honors at home,” Putin was quoted as saying. Netanyahu thanked Putin for his country’s efforts that culminated in the finding of Baumel’s remains: “Two years ago I turned to you with a personal request – that you help us in finding the remains of our soldiers, including Zachary Baumel, out of the great shared values of comrades-in-arms and fellowship of soldiers,” said Netanyahu. “You responded immediately. You said that you would act personally. You called on your people who did exceptional work,” the prime minister said. Baumel immigrated to Israel with his parents from New York in 1970. His disappearance during the First Lebanon War, along with two other soldiers who fought in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, has long troubled Israel. Netanyahu made a televised statement Wednesday in which he called the mission to retrieve Baumel’s remains the essence of the Israeli spirit. “This is one of the most moving moments of all my years as prime minister of Israel,” he said.
A bittersweet operation: How ISIS and Russia played a role in returning a fallen soldier to Israel Ynetnews/April 04/19 20 sets of remains arrive in Israel after two years of work; Moscow facilitated operation initiated in Israel by Lieberman; only match so far is Baumel. The remains of Zachary Baumel, repatriated Wednesday 37 years he went missing during the First Lebanon War, were just one of 20 sets of remains that arrived in Israel as part of Operation Bittersweet Song. Despite hopes that some of the remains belong to Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, two other soldiers who went missing during the June 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, the forensic institute in Abu Kabir was only able to identify Baumel’s remains so far. One of the 20 sets of remains does not appear to belong to any of the Israeli MIAs. The operation was made possible by Israel’s close cooperation with Russia, a close ally of Damascus, and took two years to complete. Former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, who enjoys close ties with Moscow, was the one who pushed for the operation, a major intelligence – operated feat, to take place. The operation came to a halt in mid September, when Israel’s relationship with Russia went sour over the accidental downing of a Russian military aircraft in Syria, that Moscow attributed to Israel and Israel, attributed to Syrian forces. It recuperated when the two countries’ relationship slowly went back to its track. After the diplomatic ordeal, Russia’s defense ministry spokesman said in a press conference that Israel has asked for his county’s help in an operation to seek the remains of missing soldiers. Israel declined to address the remarks. According to reports in Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen news channel, Baumel’s remains were identified in the Yarmuq refugee camp near Damascus, following the withdrawal of Islamist terror group ISIS from the area. The Battle of Sultan Yacoub took place on the sixth day of the First Lebanon War, known in Israel is Operation Peace for Galilee. Israel suffered 20 confirmed losses in the battle, as well as dozens of wounded. Six soldiers were unaccounted for, including Feldman, Baumel, and Katz. The fates of the other three soldiers were later discovered: One was killed in the battle and buried in Syria, with his body being returned to Israel after the war; another was captured by the Syrians and freed two years later; and the third was captured by a terrorist organization and freed via a prisoner exchange deal that took place three years later.
Russian Military Elite honors Zachary Baumel in a grand memorial ceremony DEBKAfile/April 04/19 A special memorial ceremony for the missing Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel took place at the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday, April 4, led by Russian Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov in the presence of visiting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. This was the first known instance of the Russian High Command conducting a military ceremony with full trappings in honor of a foreign serviceman. Baumel had been missing for 37 years since the First Lebanon War until his remains were recovered and returned to Israel by the Russian army on Wednesday. DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the exceptional honor awarded by the Russian high command to Israel and its defense forces marks the strengthening of ties between Moscow and Jerusalem and their armed forces. It also ends their disagreement over the downing of the Russian IL20 spy plane over Syria last September. A guard of honor and Gen. Gerasimov in person greeted Netanyahu, who doubles as defense minister, and his companions at the gate of the defense ministry, when they arrived from talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. At the start of their conversation, Putin stressed that Zachary Baumel’s remains were found by Russian troops “with Syrian assistance” at the Yarmouk camp near Damascus, once occupied by Palestinian refugees. He promised that Russia would keep on searching for the two Israeli soldiers who went missing with Baumel, the late Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman. Conspicuous at the memorial ceremony was a casket containing Baumel’s last personal possessions. It was wrapped in an Israeli flag and flanked by two rows of Russian soldiers in full dress uniform. One held his photo. Netanyahu placed a wreath on the casket, before thanking Gen. Gerasimov: “This demonstration of honor and the sympathy of comrades-at-arms warms the heart and vindicates the principle that we must never leave anyone behind.” Zachary Baumel is to be laid to rest in Israel on Thursday night. Analysis/Secret Burial Place, Intel Feat, and a 3rd Country: Behind the Retrieval of the Israeli Soldier’s Body Amos Harel/Haaretz/April 04/19 Achievement is also a testimony to the extraordinary commitment Israeli society shows toward its fighters and fallen soldiers in an era of eroding solidarity. With the return of the body of Zachary Baumel, the battle of Sultan Yacoub – one of the Israel Defense Forces’ toughest battles of the first Lebanon War – is back on the agenda. At the start of the war, a few hours before a cease-fire with Syria, an Israeli Armored Corps battalion was on its way to the Beirut-Damascus road when it was surrounded by Syrian forces. Other IDF forces came to rescue the trapped soldiers, and over the course of the battle, 20 soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded. The battle was considered a major IDF failure and a source of pride for the Syrian army. There were soon serious complaints about the IDF’s readiness for the battle and the way it was conducted. In their book, “The Lebanon Israel War 1982,” journalists Ze’ev Schiff and Ehud Yaari wrote that the army had intelligence about the scope of Syrian forces in the battle zone, including aerial photos, but the information didn’t reach the field. It was also claimed that the soldiers’ mission had changed, but that change wasn’t conveyed to the field, either. In the heat of battle, two Israeli tanks disappeared. The commander of one of them, Yehuda Katz, disappeared and is considered missing in action to this day. The second tank had four crew members: the commander, Hezi Shai, was captured by the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and was returned to Israel three years later in the Jibril deal. The radioman, Arik Lieberman, was captured by the Syrian army and returned alive as well. The other two crew members, Zvi Feldman and Baumel, were missing in action until the announcement confirming Baumel’s death on Wednesday. Over the years, conflicting reports were published about the fate of the three MIAs. In 2004, the IDF chief chaplain sought to declare them fallen soldiers whose burial place was not known, but the soldiers’ families resisted the move. From time to time the families were given false hope about the bodies being discovered, or received messages and hints from various sources. During the 1990s, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat gave part of Baumel’s dog tag to his father Yona. The PA claimed that members of Palestinian organizations who took part in the fighting in the Bekaa Valley buried the three after the battle. In 2003 there was a report from Lebanon that three skeletons were uncovered that might be the MIAs, but it was later determined that the skeletons were probably Palestinian. The Syrian civil war raised hopes in Israel that the chaos there could be exploited to obtain details about the MIAs’ fate. In 2016, through Russian mediation, a tank was transferred to Israel, which according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of those in which the three MIAs had been, but it was noted that it may not have been their tank but another that had operated in the sector. Last year it was reported that Russian soldiers were wounded in an attempt to locate the body of an Israeli soldier in an area controlled by the Islamic State, and that a Syrian rebel group was searching for the remains of the three to return them to Israel. Baumel’s father Yona died in 2009 after devoting his life to worldwide efforts to determine what had happened to his son. At the end of his life, he made harsh allegations against the IDF and the state. He accused them of deceiving the family, and said that they wanted to whitewash the affair and had argued there was no point in continuing the search since the three were dead. Yehuda Katz’s mother died in 2011, also without knowing what happened to her son. Along with the two still missing from Sultan Yacoub, the IDF defines two additional soldiers as MIAs: Ron Arad, the navigator who was captured in Lebanon in 1986, and Guy Hever, an artillery soldier who disappeared in the Golan Heights in 1997. Unlike soldiers who are declared dead but whose burial place is unknown, families of MIAs do not observe shiva, the seven days of mourning, and they are not recognized by the defense establishment as bereaved families. As of now there are around 100 soldiers whose burial place is unknown, most of whom were killed in the War of Independence. The most recent one is Oron Shaul, who was killed in the battle of Shujaiyeh during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 (Hadar Goldin, who was killed on “Black Friday” in Rafah, was declared dead but still missing). The status of such soldiers can change decades later. In May 2018, the burial place of Liebke Schaffer was discovered, 70 years after she was killed in the War of Independence, and in November the remains of Yakir Naveh, who was killed in a plane crash in 1962, were found in Lake Kinneret.
