Israeli MIA are members of the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
who are
missing in action
Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...
. Despite efforts to locate them and bring them home, their whereabouts remain unknown. Every year, a state ceremony is held at
Mount Herzl
Mount Herzl ( he, הַר הֶרְצְל ''Har Hertsl''), also ''Har ha-Zikaron'' ( lit. "Mount of Remembrance"), is the site of Israel's national cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities, found on the west side of Jerusalem beside ...
, Israel's military cemetery in Jerusalem.
IDF prisoners of war
During the
1947–1949 Palestine war
The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...
, defenders of a few communities were captured and forced to surrender to the enemy. Among others were soldiers from
Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion ( he, גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural v ...
and defenders of the
Jewish quarter.
In the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...
301 Israelis were captured by
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
, 232 of whom by the Egyptians, 65 by the Syrians and 4 by the Lebanese. The majority of them were captured in the first stage of that war. Some Israeli soldiers reported after their release about the difficult conditions they faced: they were severely beaten by their captors, sometimes making them unconscious, while many reported that they were being investigated under
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
.
IDF soldiers taken prisoner by Arab paramilitary groups are often treated particularly harshly and their release is sometimes delayed for years, due to the difficulty in negotiating with these organizations. There are considerable differences in terminology between the parties - the Israeli media refers to them as "kidnapped soldiers", while the Arab media are calls them "captives" or occasionally "prisoners of war".
Known Israeli MIAs
* Members of the 362th battalion declared missing after the
Battle of Sultan Yacoub
The Battle of Sultan Yacoub was a battle between Syria and Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War, which occurred near the village of Sultan Yacoub in the Lebanese Bekaa, close to the borders with Syria.
Background
At the beginning of the invas ...
in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
on June 12, 1982:
Zechariah Baumel (body recovered in 2019), Tzvi Feldman, and Yehuda Katz.
*
Ron Arad, an IDF
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and ...
navigator, was lost over
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
on October 16, 1986.
*
Guy Hever disappeared on duty in the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
on August 17, 1997.
Procedure and guidelines
IDF soldiers are told to completely avoid providing any information to captors, besides their basic identification information, however this has failed many times due to extreme pressures.
According to Reuben Yardor, a military intelligence leader of the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...
, the automatic assumption they made was that all that's known to their captured soldiers is also known to the captors.
Several publicized stories of Israeli prisoners of war were:
* Corporal
Uri Ilan
Uri Ilan ( he, אורי אילן, 17 February 1935 – 13 January 1955) was an Israeli soldier who committed suicide in a Syrian prison, after being captured in a covert operation on the Golan Heights. He became a symbol of courage and patriot ...
, undercover soldier in the
Golani Brigade
The 1st "Golani" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גּוֹלָנִי) is an Israeli military infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigade ...
who committed suicide in a Syrian prison in 1955, leaving a note in which he wrote, "I did not betray."
* Lieutenant Colonel Avi Nir,
fighter pilot
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...
shot down and captured during the Yom Kippur War, died in captivity without revealing secrets to his captors. He was posthumously awarded the
Medal of Courage
The Medal of Courage ( he, עיטור העוז, ''Itur HaOz'') is an Israeli military decoration. The medal is awarded for carrying out acts of gallantry at the risk of life, during combat duty. The medal was established in 1970 (though it has be ...
, for "
ewas tortured to death by investigators but revealed no information. Doing so demonstrates loyalty and supreme sacrifice."
* Lieutenant Amos Levinberg,
intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way ...
taken captive by the Syrians in the beginning the Yom Kippur War, and gave his captors a lot of information. He was eventually released in a prisoner exchange.
Efforts to release MIAs and legacy
When it became possible, the IDF military rescue operation team went on secret missions. A notable one was the failed rescue attempt of
Nachshon Wachsman on October 14, 1994, where he was killed along with
Nir Poraz, one of the rescuers.
Israel's official policy is not to release convicted terrorists for the release of abducted civilians or soldiers. In practice this policy has not been implemented since
Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. ...
's prime ministership, as Israel showed willingness to secure the release its MIAs (and in some cases of soldiers' remains) in exchange for a large number of Arab security prisoners held by Israel, even those who have killed Israeli civilians, and has done so in multiple occasions.
Garden of the Missing in Action
A memorial garden,
Garden of the Missing in Action, is located in the National Military and Police Cemetery on
Mount Herzl
Mount Herzl ( he, הַר הֶרְצְל ''Har Hertsl''), also ''Har ha-Zikaron'' ( lit. "Mount of Remembrance"), is the site of Israel's national cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities, found on the west side of Jerusalem beside ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.
See also
*
Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit ( he-a, גלעד שליט, Shalit.ogg, ''Gilˁad Šaliṭ'', born 28 August 1986) is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tu ...
*
Majdi Halabi
*
List of Israeli prisoner exchanges
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
Further reading
*
Public Law 106–89 106th Congress US Congress, November 8, 1999
*
External links
EITAN - Missing in Action Accounting Unitof the IDF
ICMIS Home Page: The International Coalition for Missing Israeli Soldiers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Israeli Mias
Arab–Israeli conflict
Military personnel missing in action
Israeli military personnel