Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that the Mossad recovered the remains of soldier Sgt.-Maj. Tzvi Feldman, who was declared missing in action in the 1980s.
On May 6, 1984, a report on The Jerusalem Post’s front page named Feldman as one of three soldiers declared missing in action. Feldman was taken from the same tank as Zachary Baumel and Yehuda Katz from a separate tank.
The next month, the Post reported that his parents, Nina and Avraham Feldman, received no updates over the 26 months since their son went missing. They were left in the dark, preceding and echoing statements from today’s hostage families.
In the same report, his sister, Anat, said that it was two years before anyone was informed of another soldier, Hezi Shai’s, whereabouts, so it was possible that he was still alive. Shai and Feldman were in the same tank.
The family carried out a hunger strike until the government offered information on their missing son.
Tzvi Feldman's disappearance and the effect on Israeli society
By January 1985, Israel had offered to send the assassinated former mayor of Hebron, Fahd Kawasme, back to Amman for burial in exchange for four missing Israeli soldiers, including Feldman, Baumel, Katz, and Samir Assad. The offer was ignored.
Feldman’s disappearance prompted Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin to seek additional international assistance in seeking the missing.
On August 9, 1989, the Post reported that Israel was demanding “signs of life” for the missing before negotiations with the Shi’ites.
“As long as we don’t know who is alive and who isn’t, we will discuss no other details,” Rabin said. “When the Red Cross comes to us — and it will do so only when it has a partner for negotiations — we will first demand a sign of life from all those to be exchanged by the other side,” he added.
In December 1993, the Post ran a story from Reuters saying that the Syrian government promised to help determine the fate of seven missing Israeli soldiers, a move then-US Secretary of State Warren Christopher called “an important humanitarian gesture.” This included Feldman and other soldiers who went missing in the same year, as well as four who disappeared in 1986.
In August 1992, the Post reported that Feldman, Katz, and Baumel were believed to be killed and buried in Lebanon, before Israeli intelligence briefly stated that the three men were likely buried in Syria, with no further elaboration. In the same report, Army Radio quoted a senior Palestinian source as saying that the three bodies were transferred via ambulance to a Palestinian cemetery, with their sources claiming the Syrians did not know the three bodies were Israeli soldiers.
The last of the Post’s coverage in the archives on this matter was a report of the families of those deemed “MIA” marking 15 years since their disappearance in a vigil held at Knesset, attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — when he first came into power.
Who was Tzvi Feldman?
Feldman served in the First Lebanon War and has been considered missing in action since 1982.
He fought in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub between Israel and Syria in June 1982, in which six soldiers were declared missing in action.
The military said the family of Staff Sergeant Yehuda Katz, who also went missing in the battle, had been notified of the finding.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said, "We continue to act in every possible way to bring back Staff Sergeant Yehuda Katz," adding Israel would operate to bring "back all the missing and captives to our land—both the living and those who are no longer among the living—is not only a profound commitment, but also our moral and national duty."
In 2019, Israel recovered the body of Sgt. Zachary Baumel, who went missing in action during the same battle.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.