Are Israel’s missing in action coming home?

PAULA SLIER

I was one of dozens of journalists in a press tent in Tel Nof Air Force Base. Tears glistened in even the most hardened reporters’ eyes.

I was reminded of Shalit’s homecoming this week as Israeli officials released two Syrian prisoners as a “goodwill gesture” after an Israeli soldier was returned to Israel at the beginning of last month.

American-born Zachary Baumel went missing in 1982. A tank commander, he was believed to be killed in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the first week of the First Lebanon War in June 1982.

For 37 years, his exact fate and that of two other soldiers missing from the same battle, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman, has been unknown. Largely believed to have been killed, there was also speculation that they’d been held by Palestinian organisations in Syria. Although the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had considered announcing their deaths, in the end it never did.

Army intelligence suggests the unit belonging to the three was ambushed by Syrian forces while advancing to capture positions in eastern Lebanon ahead of an anticipated ceasefire. Twenty one soldiers were killed and more than 30 injured. A few tanks and prisoners (including the bodies of fallen soldiers) were taken to Syria. Afterwards the tanks were displayed in Damascus and one was even sent to Moscow and shown there years later. It was eventually handed over to Israel.

There are currently four other IDF soldiers who are missing-in-action (MIA) in addition to two others, both confirmed killed in Gaza in 2014, but whose bodies have not yet been returned to Israel.

For Jerusalem, the importance of bringing home MIAs is part of the fabric of a society where every family sends its sons and daughters to fight. When those soldiers go missing, the trauma is a national one. The return of Baumel after nearly four decades, like the return of Shalit, was a reminder of how deeply ingrained this value is.

However, Baumel’s father, Yonah, who passed away ten years ago, and his mother, Miriam, who is in her eighties, repeatedly accused the IDF of not doing enough to retrieve their son. They always remained convinced he was alive.

When the Syrian war broke out in March 2011, the chaos that ensued created an expectation in Jerusalem that there could be opportunities for Israeli MIAs in Syria to be found. After Russia entered the war in September 2015, that expectation grew.

Moscow is in a unique position. It maintains good relations with Jerusalem and Damascus while controlling the skies of Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken special care to cultivate ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has met him 16 times, and is one of the most frequent heads of state to travel to Moscow. Two years ago, he requested help in searching for Israeli MIAs.

Russians are particularly sensitive to this. Every year, thousands of Russian volunteers search for Soviet soldiers who fell during World War II defending their homeland from the Nazis. Russians are also grateful for the honour Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Centre, pays to Soviet soldiers killed by the Nazis. There are plans underway to open a memorial in Jerusalem for the defenders of Leningrad during World War II, which Putin plans to attend.

In September last year, the Russian defence ministry confirmed that Russian forces in Syria were involved in a special search operation for Israeli MIAs in the country. It said Russian soldiers had come under fire from Islamic State militants while searching an area with co-ordinates provided by Israel. Although one Russian officer was wounded, the operation continued.

But here’s the problem. Moscow needs the help – or at least consent – of Damascus to find Israeli MIAs and the Syrian army, which is formally at war with Israel, cannot publicly admit it is involved in such operations. Hence, it vehemently denied it aided in the search and recovery operation for Baumel’s remains.

Israeli officials, too, have said that there was no prisoner exchange with Syria over the return of his body. But the release of two prisoners held in Israeli jails – whether viewed as a goodwill gesture or not – was approved by the Israeli attorney general without government consent, and signed off by President Reuven Rivlin. The prisoners have since been sent to Syria.

However, Russian officials have made comments contrary to those by both the Israelis and Syrians.

Putin confirmed that, “Russian Army soldiers found the body [of Baumel] in co-ordination with the Syrian military” and his special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, stressed that the operation went ahead only because it was deemed to be in Damascus’s interests.

“This action was not unilateral,” Lavrentiev said. “Israel made a decision… to release some of the Syrian citizens who are in Israeli jails. This was an act of interest for the Syrian side. We will not do anything that is contrary to Syria’s interests, but only things that serve them.”

At a ceremony held in Moscow, the Russian defence ministry presented Israel with Baumel’s jumpsuit and military boots in an Israeli-flag-covered coffin. His remains were found in the territory of the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus, and were identified at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir and by the IDF’s chief rabbi.

Netanyahu told Putin, “Two years ago I asked you to help us find the bodies of missing Israeli soldiers, and you responded in the affirmative. I want to thank you, my friend, for what you have done.”

The irony is that the USSR, which existed when Baumel was killed and captured, condemned the activities of Israel at the time. Today it’s a somewhat different Russia operating in Syria that helped to retrieve his body.

But Moscow has many interests – often conflicting – to balance. First and foremost, it is focused on stabilising the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and co-operates with Iran and Hezbollah. At the same time, Putin has said on various occasions that the security of Israel is one of his main priorities in the Middle East, and that Israel’s right to protect its national security is unquestionable.

Just how this will work out regarding the recovery of more Israeli MIAs remains to be seen. There are rumours that the body of legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen has been found in Syria, but these have been denied by Moscow and Jerusalem. Nonetheless, a senior Israeli diplomatic official says Moscow is continuing to search for the remains of the other two IDF soldiers who went missing in the same battle as Baumel. Israelis will continue to hope and pray.