Father of MIA: 'Hizbullah Murdered Our Children, UN Cooperated
00:38 Sep 06, '06 / 13 Elul 5766
by Hana Levi Julian
The father of one of three soldiers abducted in 2000 charged that
UNIFIL cooperated with Hizbullah in the murders. A film documentary of
the abduction also includes the voice of Ron Arad (pictured).
The families of Benny Avraham, Omar Souad and Adi Avitan, whose bodies
were returned in a 2004 prisoner exchange with Hizbullah accused the
United Nations of withholding information about film footage which
shows their sons' capture at Har Dov in Ocrober 2000.
The documentary about the kidnappings also features a clip that shows
missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, who was captured after he was forced to
bail out of his damaged aircraft over Lebanese territory in 1986.
Arad's voice is heard in the segment for the first time since his
capture 20 years ago, stating his name and the names of his parents,
Batya and Dov Arad. It is not known when his voice was taped.
The film clip which showed the capture of the three IDF soldiers in
2000 was broadcast Tuesday night simultaneously in Israel and in
Lebanon. The segment which features images and the voice of Ron Arad is
scheduled to be aired in part two of the documentary, on Wednesday
night.
The rights to air the report were purchased Monday by Israel's
Channel 10 TV news department from the Lebanese Broadcasting
Corporation (LBC) after a promo featuring the images of Ron Arad was
broadcast in Lebanon. A statement by the Lebanese television network
said it does not know the source of the footage.
Avi Avitan's father Ya'akov declared that a UNIFIL member filmed the
kidnappings and then sold the film to Hizbullah terrorists.
Avraham's father said bluntly after seeing the film of his son's
capture that Hizbullah terrorists had murdered the three soldiers in
2000 in cold blood - "the ones who were alive," he added. He also
accused the U.N. of having cooperated in the killing.
"Hizbullah made sure to erase the United Nations' cooperation in
the film - but the U.N.'s lies become clear here. They filmed the
kidnapping and knew what was happening all along," he charged.
The first hint of the existence of the tape came to light shortly after
the kidnapping when a UNIFIL officer said the kidnap operation had been
caught on film. Yaakov and Tzipora Avitan searched desperately for the
tape, but were told by the United Nations that there was no such
footage. Representatives of the world body later admitted that the tape
did indeed exist.
Avraham warned that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is not to be
trusted and said, "We have to watch him with a magnifying glass,"
he said. "He had this information and he hid it from us."
Annan claimed Monday that he was asked by both Israel and Hizbullah to
negotiate for the release of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad
Regev, abducted by Hizbullah on July 12th, at the same location as
Avraham, Avitan and Souad.
Israel flatly denied the claim, and foreign news services reported that
a government spokesman said, "A mediator is not needed." He added, "The
UN resolution determines that the soldiers will be released
unconditionally.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev added that Israel was prepared
for Annan to "assist" but not mediate for the two soldiers, whose
whereabouts and fate are still unknown.
Although watching the film was very painful for all the family members
whose sons are shown in the footage, there was nonetheless a sense of
closure. "We were aware of a great part of the information," said
Avraham, but not about their last moments - and the State of Israel
also did not know."
Avraham added that the film "proves that our sons carried out the
mission like they were supposed to. The State of Israel, through the
State Prosecutor's Office, should prepare a report today about our
children's murder and about all of UNIFIL's lies. The State of
Israel must not trust UNIFIL."
Click here for our free Daily News Report from Israel
Published: 23:34 September 05, 2006
Last Update: 00:38 September 06, 2006
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