Rabbis For Human Rights

Something has been "missing" from the current activity surrounding the Israelis who are missing in action. The virtually exclusive concentration on the recent kidnappings of Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan, Omar Sawayid and Elhanan Tennenbaum has left Zachary Baumel, Zvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz and Ron Arad behind. It is as if the fact that Baumel, Feldman and Katz have been missing for almost 20 years, and Arad for 15, no longer qualifies them to receive priority treatment.

The saying that "time heals" is highly overrated. Time does not lessen pain. The longer one is in limbo, the more one suffers. The frustration of those families who had their children taken away from them in the Lebanese War has grown greater as the years pass, and there seems to be no end in sight to their uncertainty.

In virtually all of his comments on the MIAs, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer seems to only address those kidnapped from Israel.

US Senator John McCain, himself a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, who is heading a US committee to address the issues of Israel's MIAs, only referred to Avraham, Avitan and Sawayid in his official announcement of the American campaign on behalf of Israel's missing. What is going on? Is there something that we do not know, which the defense establishment is not telling us?

Could it be that the Lebanese War's missing are no longer a priority because they were captured "so long ago"?

If anyone should see to it that Baumel, Feldman and Katz be included in any discussion of the missing, both publicly and privately, it is our current prime minister. After all, Ariel Sharon was the architect of the Lebanese misadventure and, therefore, has a personal responsibility to the families of the missing from that war to guarantee that no stone is left unturned in the continual effort to gain information as to what happened to them.

The Danes are protesting Ambassador Carmi Gillon's assignment to their country because he supported "moderate torture" when he headed the General Security Service. But they, and the rest of the free world, including the UN (although that would be one for the ages), should also demonstrate against another form of torture - the torture that the Baumel, Feldman and Katz families have undergone for the last 20 years. What could be crueler than not knowing whether your child is alive or dead?

Hizbullah defies the most elemental rules of decency, as do the Islamic Jihad and Hamas. No manner of perceived or actual suffering can ever justify the psychological and physical abuse that they hurl upon their victims. By not revealing one iota of information regarding the whereabouts of their captives, Hizbullah has characterized itself as belonging to a subhuman class of species. It has violated every law of the Geneva Convention relating to POWs as have Syria, Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority to the extent that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has information about the whereabouts of Zachary Baumel, as indicated in his return of Baumel's ID dog tag to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. These violations affect those taken captive on the northern border last year, but more so, those who were last seen alive when they were captured on June 12, 1982.

"To perish by the sword is worse than a natural death, to die by hunger, worse still and captivity, worst of all" (Baba Batra 8b). The longer one is in captivity, the greater the suffering, both for the captive and the captive's family. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to extend our efforts to those who have been missing for 20 years in equal measure as to those who have been missing for one.

Maybe the rest of the world has a short memory. While others may not be interested in yesterday's news, we, as a people, must maintain our intimate links with past events as much as with present affairs. We all pray that the Avrahams, Avitans, Sawayids and Tennenbaums gain a quick and happy resolution to their immediate pain; although if Hizbullah's history tells us anything, and the world's, and in particular the UN's and Red Cross's non-reaction (some would say collaboration) to the kidnappings is an indication of anything, then, sadly, they may be in for a long haul, like the Baumels, Katzes, Feldmans and Arads.

Time should not divide us, but unite us. All eight of those missing must be treated equally, and most importantly, with immediacy.

Originally published by The Jerusalem Post, 9 Elul 5761; Tuesday August 28, 2001
Original Online version can be found at: http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/08/28/Opinion/Opinion.33536.html
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