The strategic plans of the Israeli army will not change in light of the discovery that Israel has a soldier missing in action, says the former head of the POW and MIA unit in the army, but the next 24 hours will likely be significantly affected.
Col. (res) Lior Lotan likens the situation to the predicament Israel found itself in after a team of Naval Commandos was ambushed deep in Lebanon in September 1997. The team lost 12 men, and the rescue squad, operating under fire, was forced to leave one body and several body parts behind. The body of Staff Sgt. Itamar Iliya and the other remains were only returned to Israel in June 1998, in exchange for the body of Hadi Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Lotan says that the only way to shift a soldier’s status from MIA to KIA, or from missing to dead, is by providing “tangible, solid evidence.”
Although troops will be operating in a hostile environment Lotan says that Special Forces will surely be combing the area in order to obtain the necessary evidence. “Even in a war zone,” he says, even at considerable risk, “it will be done.”
— Mitch Ginsburg
Your next read: ToI Editors' Picks
LIMITED TIME OFFER: Join The Times of Israel Community today and you'll receive a physical book of your choice, carefully curated by our editors.
Choose between two must-reads: When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin, a searing portrait of a mother’s grief and strength following unthinkable tragedy;
Or Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe by Matti Friedman, the gripping and surprising tale of a forgotten moment during World War II.
As a Community member, you’ll also enjoy our DocuNation series of outstanding Israeli documentary films, an ad-free experience of our site and podcasts, commenting privileges, and more.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
