Goldwasser's father: Process of declaring captives dead put on hold
Shlomo Goldwasser says Military Rabbinate freezes process of declaring his son and Eldad Regev killed in action. 'Now we can carry on in our struggle to bring our sons home,' he says
The father of captive IDF soldier Ehud Goldwasser said Wednesday his daughter-in-law Karnit Goldwasser was informed that the Chief Military Rabbinate has put on hold the process of declaring Ehud and Eldad Regev "killed in action".
"We are pleased. It was a mistake to begin the process and now it has been rectified," Shlomo Goldwasser said, "now we can carry on in our struggle to bring our sons home."
The IDF refused to comment on Goldwasser's statement.
On Tuesday Karnit Goldwasser sent a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak stating she intends on filing a petition with the High Court of Justice if her husband and Eldad Regev are declared dead.
The letter, sent by Goldwasser's attorneys Prof. Ariel Bendor, Eldad Yaniv and Sharon Stein, said "you are hereby asked to instruct the various authorities not to act in any way to have the soldiers' status changed, a move which will necessarily lead to a change in Karnit Goldwasser's legal status.
"Should you decline, we will have no option but to seek legal recourse," said the letter, threatening to petition the High Court should the prime minister and defense minister fail to respond to the letter within 48 hours.
Regev and Goldwasser were kidnapped by Hizbullah gunmen near the Lebanese border on July 12, 2006, sparking the Second Lebanon War.
On Monday, Chief IDF Rabbi Brigadier-General Avi Ronsky began the process of assessing the fate of captive IDF soldiers Goldwasser and Regev.
Ronsky received the relevant intelligence information and will determine whether or not do declare the two soldiers "killed in action whose place of burial is unknown". The chief military is the only one authorized to make such an assertion.
Karnit Goldwasser said after hearing of the decision that "this is a terrible day for me and a shameful one for the State of Israel. We always thought the problem was with (Hizbullah chief Hassan) Nasrallah."
