Captive's mother calls IDF report on injury 'spin'

Mickey and Shlomo Goldwasser, parents of one of the kidnapped soldiers in Lebanon, Ehud Goldwasser, met with Nahariya high school students following Olmert's statement on the condition of their son earlier this week.

A chain of statements on the subject began at the end of last week and came to a peak Monday, during PM Olmert's visit to Amal High School in Nahariya.

During his visit he was asked by the students about the reasons for the ceasefire. His response was: "Assuming the soldiers are alive, this gives them a few more days in captivity; but by doing this (agreeing to the ceasefire) we have definitely spared the lives of dozens of soldiers that would have been killed in the war."

Later on Olmert took back his words and said that the assumption is that the soldiers in Lebanon are still alive.

Disappointed Parents 

During the Goldwassers' meeting with the high school students, Mickey told the children she was proud of the questions they had asked PM Olmert.

Mickey referred to the IDF's report on the soldiers' health condition and said that "according to the report, one is badly wounded and one is critically wounded. The report on the critically wounded is just an unfounded spin. The conclusion is clear: They are alive, and need medical care at home. "

Shlomo Goldwasser, Ehud's father, said that the report's conclusions should be an incentive to bring the boys home as soon as possible

The parents were asked about the efforts the government was making in trying to free their sons.

Shlomo pointed out that no other country would do more for its captives.

Nonetheless, he continued to say: "I expected Eldad and Udi to be home for Hannukah. I expected more, but in reality not much was done. Of course we must remember who we are up against"

The captives' families are scheduled to meet with Olmert Wednesday afternoon, when they will "ask him the tough questions about his unpleasant outburst regarding our sons," said Mickey.

The couple said they are trying their hardest to cope with the situation of uncertainty, "I know that I have two more boys that need their mother and I try to take care of myself for them," said Mickey.

At the end of the meeting, Mickey was asked if she feared her son would end up like Ron Arad. "It won't happen again," she said harshly, "I know they have learned their lesson with Ron Arad's case, they failed by not bringing him home, this time it won't happen again."

After the meeting with the students the Goldwassers took part in an assembly at the school and at an exhibition where stickers calling for the soldiers' return were exhibited.

Mickey with student council chairman (Photo: Vadim Daniel) 

The report 

Wednesday, the IDF's report on the kidnapped soldiers was published, saying that they were supposedly badly wounded. Apparently, one of the soldiers was more seriously wounded than the other due to loss of blood.

The report was published following a comprehensive forensic investigation carried out by medical staffs at the site of the kidnapping. The report's findings were only recently published and the degree of injury was cleared for publication Wednesday.

The report did not state whether or not the two soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were still alive.

Olmer causes storm

Olmert's statement caused a storm in a discussion at the headquarters for freeing the captives. The kidnapped soldiers' friends who served with them in the army demanded a stronger stand be taken and Olmert be confronted for his outburst.

The family members calmed the atmosphere and came up with a demand that the cabinet convene for an urgent discussion.

An announcement published at the end of the meeting stated among other things that the families "are weary of the fact that it has been nearly five months since the soldiers left for their mission, and the State of Israel still has not fulfilled its duty of bringing them home."

The families pointed out that all the information they have shows that their sons are still alive. They said that this should be Israel's starting point in any negotiations, until proven otherwise.

"Five months since our sons have fallen captive, it's about time the government gives us more answers. It can't be that the captives' families are knocking on every door in Europe and the government won't do the same. It can't be that the foreign minister convenes all the ambassadors in Israel to discuss Qassams, but doesn’t convene them to discuss the captives."