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9:41AM IL: The International Red Cross has just shown the coffins of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, confirming intelligence reports that the two are not among the living.
10:08AM IL: A short time ago, two coffins, presumably containing the remains of IDF reservists Sergeant-Major Ehud Goldwasser and Staff-Sergeant Eldad Regev, were returned to Israel by representatives of the International Red Cross.
The first order of business is the identification process of the remains of the soldiers. The coffins are returned two years and four days after the soldiers were taken prisoner by Hizbullah terrorists in a cross-border attack in northern Israel. Once the bodies have been positively identified, Israel will permit the release of Samir Kuntar and four other Lebanese terrorists and the return of the remains of 199 terrorists.
Simultaneously, IDF Major-Generals Elazar Stern and Gadi Shamni will make their way to the homes of the Goldwasser and Regev families to inform them of the fate of their sons.
In a somewhat ironic twist, Stern, who is the head of the IDF’s Human Resources Branch, notified both families that their sons were taken captive. Today, Stern’s last day in the IDF, he must now inform the families their loved ones are no longer among the living. Shamni is the IDF Central Division Commander and the senior commander of the two. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Hashem yinkom damam
Comment by Aunt Laya — July 16, 2008 @ 5:36 am
This just shows how Olmert and his cronies are full of hot air. Yes, “al pi halacha” the right thing to do was to free this lady from her igun but look at the price we paid for it. 199 BODIES AND 5 TERRORISTS for the bodies of two soldiers. This olmert will go down in history as the most corrupt politician in the history of the state of israel. Let us all daven that hashem sould have rachmunus on us and the families should have a nechomo.
Comment by glatekup — July 16, 2008 @ 6:07 am
My question is: Why didn’t Israel make sure to give their DEAD bodies back. Why were these terrorists kept alive???????????????????
Comment by Abi meleibt — July 16, 2008 @ 8:14 am
#2: “al pi halacha” is how Jews are supposed to live their lives, regardless of the price. R’ Ovadia Yosef said that the deal should be done. Do you know more than him?
Comment by Feif Un — July 16, 2008 @ 8:28 am
like the deal israel made back in ‘96 for the return of the box of bones of Rachammim Fink and Alsheich.
Comment by The Town Crier — July 16, 2008 @ 9:29 am
May their families know no further sorrow.
Comment by American BT — July 16, 2008 @ 9:38 am
We are in gollus. This has nothing to do with “Olmert and his cronies” we should be misspalel for “Horem Keren Yisroel Amecha” and Hashem should have rachmonus on all of us.
Comment by gevaldingeshrigen — July 16, 2008 @ 10:34 am
glatekup,
Im afraid your full of “sirchos”. “Al pi halacha” you buy matzo, lulav & esrog etc and you also “pay a price for it”; thats why you’re here.
Comment by cherryhillbilly — July 16, 2008 @ 10:47 am
#2 is RIGHT
I think u all missed his point!
Comment by y2r — July 16, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
What horrible, horrible news. May their families be comforted, and may klal yisrael know of no more tzaros. We must all work on our ahavas yisrael, to bring mashiach SOON.
Comment by proudyid — July 16, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
#2 is RIGHT
I think u all missed his point!
Comment by y2r — July 16, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
Brilliant. Thanx for explaining it.
Comment by cherryhillbilly — July 16, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
May G-d comfort the families. May G-d yinkom et damam.
I don’t think “al pi halacha” is the case here. The only halacha the families are dealing with now is the burial and morning period. You can’t argue halacha when dealing with Arab terrorists who don’t value life. You must argue with logic and strategy to illiminate these terrorists from killing and abducting more Israeli lives.
Comment by milchig — July 16, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
#2 Glattkup, what would you have done differently. very easy to be a back seat driver or Monday morning quarterback. Much harder to consider all the difficulties bshaas maysah.
I personally believe ideally that only dead terrorists should be given up if our boys were not alive, but that is if we had some eidus or evidence that would have freed the almanah from Igun. If not, then we have no choice.
Comment by Pashuteh Yid — July 16, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
To # 5 - the 96 deal was for Yossi Fink and Rachamim Alsheikh.
an Israeli Yid
Comment by IsraeliYid — July 16, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
Jews we must beware, we are valuable and tradeable DEAD or possibly alive.
Comment by sayitlikeitis — July 16, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
They should have returned kuntar in a metal soda can, ready to explode on all his fellow terrorists!
Comment by willi — July 16, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
israel doesnt have lethal injection or any sort of death penalty
Comment by rmartin — July 16, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
An open letter to the State of Israel:
This is how you negotiate the next body exchange. You tell the arabs that if your people are returned dead, you will immediatly shoot to kill (with chazer tipped bullets) their rotten terrorists INCLUDING anyone standing in the way.
Comment by mark levin — July 16, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
Hatzolas nefashos takes precedence over kavod hameis. Releasing terrorists is creating sakanas nefashos, and should not have been done in exchange for two dead bodies, even if the bodies belonged to Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen. The deal was a mistake.
P.S. A good friend of mine says that Hezbollah only killed the two soldiers just recently, right before returning their dead bodies. Could be. It’s highly plausible.
Comment by Give Me a Break — July 16, 2008 @ 5:41 pm
#19:
1) Releasing terrorists is creating a “safek” sakanas nefashos.
2) Moshe and Aharon don’t own bodies. Did you mean “if the bodies were Moshe Rabbeinu…”
3) The forsenic evidence runs contrary to your good friend’s claim.
Comment by NeveAliza — July 17, 2008 @ 7:49 am
#20:
1) “Safek”? It doesn’t matter. On Shabbos and Yom Tov, and even Yom Kippur, safek sakanas nefashos is exactly the same as sakanas nefashos. So you are wrong on that count.
2) Yes, that is what I meant… any nitwit could figure that out. And Moshe and Aharon own their own bodies, for your information. Don’t go “LaHashem HaAretz” on me about that.
3) It’s “forENSic,” not “forSENic.” And it was just a theory, anyways, so don’t get antsy. Besides, I still think it might be true what he said. Mind disclosing where you got the forensics details from? These guys are Jewish, I’m not sure they did an autopsy on them.
Comment by Give Me a Break — July 18, 2008 @ 12:07 pm