Last update - 00:00 04/09/2006
Channel 10 to air unseen video of missing IAF airman Ron Arad
By Asaf Carmel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents
Channel 10 has bought the rights to broadcast video footage of abducted Israel Air Force airman Ron Arad, missing since 1986. The footage, purchased from Lebanese network LBC, will be shown in two parts, at the same time that it is shown on the Lebanese station.
The video contains the first footage of Arad speaking since his disappearance in southern Lebanon.
It also shows the capture of three Israeli soldiers at Har Dov in October 2000. The soldiers were killed during the capture, and their bodies returned to Israel in the prisoner exchange deal brokered with Hezbollah in 2004.
The video will also show an interview with abducted Israeli businessman Elhanan Tanenbaum conducted by Hezbollah-affiliated news reporter Ibrahim Al-Amin.
Israeli officials believe the film was shot in the late 1980s, when Arad was held by Mustafa Dirani of the Shiite militia Amal, and do not shed light on his later fate.
Channel 10, Keshet, and Channel 2 competed feverishly over the past few days for rights to the video.