'Israel assumes missing airman Ron Arad is still alive'
PMO responds to classified MI report claiming navigator died sometime in mid-1990s, decade after capture.
By Haaretz Service Tags: Hezbollah Ron Arad Israel news prisoner exchangeIsrael is still searching for missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad and working on the assumption that he is alive, the Prime Minister's Office announced on Sunday.
The announcement came in response to a classified Military Intelligence report, which claimed Arad had remained alive at least nine years after his plane went down over Lebanon in 1986.
According to the report, Arad most likely died in Lebanon sometime in the mid-1990s.
"Efforts to shed light on Ron Arad's fate are constantly continuing," the PMO said in response to the report. "We are working on the assumption that the captive navigator is still alive."
The Military Intelligence wrote in its report that Arad was transferred to Iran and held by Revolutionary Guards there for years after his plane was shot down.
In 1994, said the report, the Israel Defense Forces kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, the Hezbollah commander who had held Arad captive in Lebanon.
The Iranians, said the report, worried that that abduction would shed light on their involvement in the affair, and therefore returned Arad to Lebanon where he remained in captivity until the mid-1990s. The Military Intelligence believes he died then from complications of an illness.
Arad's family said in response to the report that they believed he was still alive and deserved to know the outcome of his fate.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Altho comparing the Arad story to Shalit's is releveant, I still wonder why this issue has arisen just now. Is it spin for Gilad's release lest he disappear too unless the price is paid? Israel declined to free 50 terrorists for Arad, and now the price for Shallit is in the hundreds, with more than a thousand additional on the side as a gesture of good will, hah.. Trading in prisones is cruel, but let us remember the certain outcome will be more terror and encouragement for extremists, knowing they will eventually be set free to kill again. And who will be the vicitms if not innocent Israelis in the future? Deferring payment to the future is immoral and horrific, if you are passing the bill in blood to someone else.
when it comes up with the whereabouts of 4 Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Israeli occupied Lebanon in 1982.
We need to also check for in between zones by satellite. Satellite does not pick up certain areas. We found Al Queda death camps in dead zones. We infiltrated and saved many lives. He may be held there. They found people held there since 2001 when the Iraqi war started. Bad shape. We need to check every square diametric inch of Israel and remap certain zones and this includes other countries. It is what lies underground and what lies in no satellite zones that are scary. We extracted last year 71 while in Iraq. Prisoners of War never reported. Where and who are our missing. Karoon
Aside from this article's conflicting reports on whether or not the government believes he is alive, we have to take into account that there is standing offer of a $10 million reward for any information on Ron Arad since 5 years and nothing has come up in spite of this huge reward. One has to assume that no one knows anything about his whereabouts and it is somewhat suspect that Israel has rekindled the Arad issue at this point in time in light of its inaction on Shalit. Seeing how Israel has been going about it with the negotiations to free Shalit, it is obvious why Arad was not released.