Hi,
“If we will not do something, we will have 132 Ron Arad,” one said, and for the first time, I realized the hostages that left in Gaza strip might not come back.
Ron Arad was an IAF weapon system officer (what we call navigator), which had to eject from his F-4 Phantom II aircraft along with the pilot during a mission in the Lebanon war on October 16th 1986 (one of the bombs dropped from the aircraft exploded too soon and damaged it)
The pilot, Yishai Aviram, was rescued heroically by a Cobra helicopter when he held the landing skids under heavy fire. Arad was captured by Amal and later moved to the hands of Hezbollah.
Amal proposed a prisoner exchange when Ron Arad got to Beirut. Negotiations on prisoner swaps took place until 1988, but without success.
He was moved to the hands of Hezbollah, then to Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (who aid Hezbollah) that moved him to Iran.
There were many attempts to find out the faith of Ron Arad, but there is no information about it. Iran and Hezbollah do not provide any information on his faith.
Will the hostages have the same faith under Hamas? Do they even live? Does Bibes family be found? They can be smuggled outside Gaza strip in one of the many tunnels under Philadelphi Route to Egypt and to who knows where.
I guess when looking back, all agree, the prisoner swaps Amal offered should have been agreed to. During the years, a great amount of resources was invested only to figure out what Arad’s faith was (not to talk about bringing him back, or at least his body).
Take Care
Gad
Ron Arad picture (Source: Wikipedia.org)
The famous picture of Yisahi Aviram was rescued by Cobra chopper when he was clinging to the landing skid (Source: www.ynet.co.il)