Defense Ministry shuts down NGO seeking info on MIAs

Director says closure a blow to efforts to obtain information on missing soldiers; Defense Ministry: Organization wasn't effective.

By YAAKOV KATZ
ron arad also new 248 88 (photo credit: Channel 10)
ron arad also new 248 88
(photo credit: Channel 10)
The Defense Ministry decided to shut down the Born to Freedom Foundation, a non-profit organization that had been working for the past eight years to locate missing Israeli soldiers.
The foundation offered a $10 million reward for information on missing IDF soldiers, including Ron Arad, Guy Hever, Majdi Halabi and and three soldiers who went missing in the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon. It actively sought information in Iran and various Arab countries.
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Maj.-Gen. (res) Eyal Ben-Reuven, the outgoing director of the organization said that its closure was a fatal blow to Israeli efforts to obtain information regarding the fate of its missing soldiers.
"The efforts should continue. It is the government's responsibility to obtain information about the fate of its soldiers. This is our national obligation," Ben-Reuven said.
In response, the Defense Ministry released a statement saying that two committees set up by Defense Minister Ehud Barak had determined that the Born to Freedom organization was not effective in obtaining information regarding the fate of missing Israeli soldiers.