Yehuda Katz. Missing since 1982
Photo: Tal Neve
Family of missing soldier compensated
Court says IDF did not consult family on process of declaring Yehuda Katz, missing since 1982, dead
Jerusalem's District Court on Monday refused to declare the death of three soldiers who went missing during the battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982, but judges granted the soldiers' families compensation because the IDF did not consult them on the case.
Yehuda Katz, one of the soldiers who went missing, served as a tank operator in the Lebanon War along with the other two soldiers, Zachary Baumel and Tzvi Feldman.
The three are still considered missing in action, but in 2004 the IDF's chief rabbi determined that they were no longer among the living. He launched a process of declaring them IDF fallen whose gravesites are unknown, but the families petitioned the High Court of Justice and they remained classified as missing with efforts to retrieve them continuing.
Despite this, the Katz family sued for compensation, citing the damage and deteriorating health caused to family members by the circumstances of the affair.
They also complained that decisions had been made in the case without consulting the family, and that information had been leaked to the press. They demanded that new evidence be brought forth before Katz was declared dead.
Justice Yosef Shapiro wrote in his verdict that no such evidence was needed, and rejected the notion that the IDF could have prevented press leaks due to the number of people involved in the case.
However he accepted the claim by which the family was not consulted before the process of declaring Katz dead was launched, and therefore awarded them $16,000 in compensation due to negligence. The state will also fund legal fees, which amount to about $5,000.
