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Commentary;
Well, this horrendous terrorists for body-bags “deal” is going forward. The only thing that remained was for the IDF to confirm that the remains in the two caskets were indeed Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and that Israel wasn’t being zoomed by Hezbollah. Confirmation of identities took place Wednesday afternoon and the “deal” goes forward with Hezbollah, Hamas and the entire Islamic terror structure gleefully celebrates the humiliation of Israel.
Our condolences go out to the Regev, Goldwasser families; “HaMokom Y’nacheim etchem b’toch Sha’ar Aveilei Tzion V’Yerushalayim.”
The big questions for Israel now are; What happens heaven forbid with future kidnapped, captured IDF soldiers? What is the IDF doing to eliminate chances of a replay of Regev, Goldwasser and Shalit? And are there plans or methods in place to speedily rescue soldiers alive in event of any future kidnapping? MB
Regev, Goldwasser Remains Officially Identified, by Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Excerpts;
The IDF positively identified the bodies of reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser Wednesday afternoon, setting the stage for continuing the exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah.
Military sources said the identification process took several hours, due to the deteriorated state of the soldiers’ bodies. Earlier Wednesday the Red Cross transferred two coffins to Israel, containing the remains of Regev and Goldwasser.
The two soldiers were posthumously promoted to the rank of first staff sergeant, the army announced.
The information gleaned from the IDF’s examination will be given to the soldiers’ families before being released to the media.
Benayahu said that Israel does not trust the UN’s identification and will conduct its own examination. “We trust only ourselves. [The process of identification] might take several hours,” Benayahu said.
A truck carrying 19 bodies of terrorists passed the Rosh Hanikra border crossing into Lebanon, the first of many such trucks expected on Wednesday.
Before identification could begin, sappers were inspecting the coffins presumed to contain the remains of MIAs Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser to ensure that they were not booby trapped. Channel 10 quoted defense officials as saying that the identification would take longer than expected due to the state in which the bodies were delivered. Earlier, Hizbullah’s Al-Manar TV had quoted senior Hizbullah official Wafik Safa at the border as saying the bodies were in a “mutilated” shape from injuries they sustained during the cross-border raid.
Families Cry Out at Sight of Coffins
Kuntar to Receive State Welcoming
Abbas Congratulates Family of Samir Kuntar
“Next Time” Now: Kill, Capture, Torture, Destroy – To Free Gilad Schalit, by Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)
Ben-Eliezer: I Voted for Swap to Give Peace of Mind to All Israeli Mothers
The Speech We Won’t Hear [Post-Swap: What Olmert Won’t Say!], by Ron Ben-Yishai (Ynet)