Minister tells 'Post' Hizbullah leader knows more about missing navigator than is written in report.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANron arad new 224.88(photo credit: Channel 1)
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz expressed disappointment with Hizbullah's report on Ron Arad on Tuesday, saying he believed Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah knew more about Arad than was written in the report.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Mofaz revealed that the Arad report was unacceptable not only to the government and intelligence officials, but also to the German mediator, Gerhard Conrad. He said there was no proof to Hizbullah's assertion that Arad had been killed when he tried to flee on May 4, 1988 during the battle of Maidun in Lebanon.
Mofaz, who was commander of the IDF paratroopers brigade at the time, was the officer in charge of that battle. He recalled how two years earlier, he had commanded his forces to rescue Arad when he fell into captivity, but the Amal terrorist group had gotten to him first.
Despite his disappointment with the Arad report, Mofaz voted in favor of the prisoner swap as a matter of principle.
"As someone who sent soldiers to battle, when the time comes to return them, we have to," Mofaz said. "No country would do what we have done to try to bring Arad home. It might look to the world like we are surrendering for two soldiers who may even be dead. But it would be heartbreaking if we let Hizbullah keep our boys, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, for 20 more years."
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
