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PM Ehud Olmert embraces Karnit Goldwasser, wife of Udi, delivered home in a casket, as Defense Minister Barak stands by (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff July 16, 2008 |
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| Flash90 |
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Israeli media indulged in maudlin reportage about the "return of the sons" and the "reuniting of the families." But the shameful truth was otherwise. Israel had given in to a deal that surrendered a child-murderer to Hezbollah and received in return only the bodies of soldiers that Hezbollah itself was likely to have murdered in captivity. All of the solemn ceremonies could not quite conceal the humiliation.
The families were alone with the remains of their loved ones before holding a closed meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and IDF chief of general staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz (res.), army chief during the Second Lebanon War, also attended. The VIPs paid their respects to the dead soldiers at the army base. Both fallen reservists will be given military funerals on Thursday: Goldwasser at 10:00 a.m. in Nahariya, Regev at 2:00 p.m. in Haifa.
Earlier in the day, Karnit's father, Omni Avni, wearing dark sunglasses, stood behind the gated driveway of his wife's home and told reporters: "Udi [Ehud] and Eldad were killed in action."
Maj. Gen. Elazar Stearn had given the grim tidings moments before. Until then the family had hoped, somehow, for a positive outcome, "but that didn't happen," he said.
"It is a difficult moment for us the family and for me personally after two years of meetings, traveling, talking, writing and being in the process of trying to bring Udi back home," Avni said. "You all know that Karnit promised his parents that she would bring Udi home. Today she accomplished her promise, Udi is back here. This a time for Karnit to open her heart and to start mourning and crying, and she did so."
"Our plans are to get a green light from the IDF that Udi and Eldad are waiting for us in a base nearby," he continued. "We will go there this evening and say goodbye. We will do it in a very intimate way, the families only. Some of us will be there alone and some of us in groups, but we will all say in a goodbye in a personal way to our beloved Udi."
"This is a good opportunity for me to thank Ofer Dekel, the man who was appointed by the prime minister for his hard work and good result. Udi and Eldad are back. We wanted them to be back," he said.
"I would like to thank the prime minister and the government of Israel for taking the right decision which made the deal come through. Udi and Eldad are back home. We would like to thank the public that supported us for the last two years, it gave us courage and strength," Avni said.
Shlomo Goldwasser, father of Ehud Goldwasser, also expressed his appreciation for the support he received from the Israeli public. "In the last two years we discovered what a wonderful people [the Jewish nation] is," he said.
"We would like to thank the entire Jewish nation. This nation is our answer to [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, who is trying to toy with our emotions," Goldwasser said. But others in the background said that Nasrallah would even "pay the price."
Zvi Regev, the father of fallen IDF reservist Eldad Regev, echoed Goldwasser: "I thank the Jewish nation, the media and all who have intervened on our behalf. We hoped Udi and Eldad would return alive; now we will have to adjust to a new reality."
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