My first column in the first ever issue of JLBC ended with the following words:
31 years later, and the boys have not returned: Yehuda Katz. Zvi Feldman. Zachary Baumel—all three in the same battle with nary a word of their fate, except for a shard of a military dog-tag that found its way to the grimy hands of Yasir Arafat.
Countless prime ministers, presidents and politicians both in Israel and the world over have come and gone, many of them having stained the world with their greed and corruption. Netanyahu? Sharon? Olmert? Barak? Peres? Rabin? Shamir? Begin? Where are they? Why hasn’t their return been negotiated? God only knows.
Welcome to my first column in this first edition of this brand new newspaper. How could I possibly not devote it to Yehuda? As I stand in shul every Shabbos and hear his name read among the missing, I want to burst out and cry. Out of sorrow. Out of frustration.
Dear God. Bring them home already.
Sometimes, I guess, we have to pray a little harder for the things we so desperately want. Or maybe He isn’t able to deliver- because while God created a beautiful world, it is man- not to mention terrorists- who destroy it.
On June 11, 1982, at the age of 22, Yehuda Katz was captured at the battle of Sultan Yakoub, at the same time as Zvi Feldman, Zachary Baumel, Hezi Shai and Aryeh Lieberman. Hezi Shai and Aryeh Lieberman were later freed in a prisoner exchanged. Zachary, Zvi and Yehuda remain captives, held incommunicado for over 31 years.
Oh there are websites devoted to the MIA’s release, but few have been updated in the last decade, it seems. Jewish Virtual Library has a page devoted to them. Number of times shared? 0. Facebook likes? 0. “Google” the latest news of “Yehuda Katz, Israeli soldier,” and the page stares blankly and harshly right back at you, cruel in its refusal to yield any information. Israel’s own Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not updated their Soldiers Missing In Action page since October 2012. Really?? Yes really. They still list Gilad Shalit as missing.
Should I be so naïve as to think that International Red Cross would get involved? How about our good friends over at Amnesty International? The National Council of Young Israel is famous for its embrace of the Jonathan Pollard case. Who among our alphabet organizations will step up after all these years and say, “Yeah, it’s worth it—let’s revisit the Israeli MIAs.” Malcolm Hoenlein, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents—talk to us. Go right ahead folks—use it as a fund raising tool. At this point, I don’t think any of us care, other than to see him brought back home- dead or alive. Even evidence of his passing would be meaningful. Let the family sit Shiva, let the world pay their respects, allow his brother Avi to say Kaddish, and bring an end to this embarrassing chapter in Israel’s brief history.
Thousands of Arab terrorists with blood on their hands have been released since Yehuda’s capture. Released for other MIAs like Gilad Shalit and not just in trade for Jewish flesh, living or dead, but for the chance at peace. Has no one had the negotiating skills to pull aside an Arafat, an Abbas, and say, “look, just give us the damn info or else no one gets released?” I’m incredulous.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m too close to the situation. Maybe 32 years is too long a time. Maybe the difference makers have given up. Maybe the Chief Rabbinate is too scared to rule on their status. You go tell that to the Katz, Baumel and Feldman families. And to the families of Ron Arad and Guy Hever too. Not me.
Yehuda Katz is my second cousin and a boyhood idol of mine. I hereby publicly repeat my vow to keep his memory alive through the pages of this newspaper, on each and every Jewish Link anniversary.
By Robert Katz
