Dear Friends,

The Israeli nation is today plunged into deep grief and sorrow at the news of the death of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, may their memory be blessed. The two abducted soldiers who were handed back to Israel this morning in the framework of the prisoner exchange agreement with Hezbollah, returned in coffins. It was not what their families, or as every Israeli and Jew across the world, had hoped and prayed for.

For two long years, the Goldwasser and Regev families awaited this day, their hearts beating with hope that their sons would return alive. Through the long sleepless nights, torn between despair and hope, the families held on to the chance that the bloodstains left at the site of the abduction were a sign that their sons were still alive and that they would receive medical treatment from their abductors. But this hope was shattered today, with unparalleled cruelty. There are no words to describe the evil, the humiliations and the barbarity perpetrated by the terrorist organization in whose hands Udi and Eldad fell – an organization, which willfully and out of sheer inhumanity, refused to transmit a trace of information about the soldiers and their fate - up to the last minute.

The entire nation of Israel empathized with the pain of the families, stood by them in their struggle, in admiration of their courage and fighting spirit. In Udi and in Eldad, every parent in the State of Israel saw their own children, siblings, relatives and friends. Many of these parents whose children serve in the IDF must have thought, more than once, that their own sons and daughters could have been in the same place as Udi and Eldad. The feeling of mutual responsibility, which is a central basis and supreme tenet of the Jewish People, has accompanied us all, in Israel and in the Diaspora.

Within the family of the Jewish Agency, which has stood by the Goldwasser and Regev families, from the time of the abduction and throughout these long two years, there is deep grief and pain. We, who knew the parents of Udi and Eldad, Karnit, Udi’s wife, and the members of the Regev family personally, and supported them in their struggle to free their loved ones, aiding them in their campaigns around the world - to raise world opinion, to meet with leaders of the free world, to make their voices heard on every international platform and to take part in major marches organized with the help of Jewish communities around the world, we are in mourning, we grieve and we take them into our hearts with pain and with love.

The State of Israel has paid a heavy price today, out of obligation to its young men, the soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, who endangered their lives in order to defend the security of its residents. The State of Israel acted in this manner out of the moral values which form the basis of life in Israel. This is the supreme expression of the solidarity that characterizes the spirit and values of the Israeli nation and the Jewish people - values which are based on respect for man, human dignity and human life.

The State of Israel today released one of the most evil and abominable killers in the history of Islamic terror, Samir Kuntar. On April 21, 1979, Samir Kuntar headed a terrorist unit of the “Palestinian Liberation Front” which reached the shores of Naharya in a rubber boat, shot at a police patrol and killed an Israeli policeman. In the middle of the night, the unit broke into the home of the Haran family and took hostage Danny, the father of the family, and Einat his four-year old daughter while Smadar, Danny’s wife, her two-year old daughter Yael and a neighbor hid in a hiding place in the family bedroom. The terrorists took Danny and Einat to the shore. When they encountered IDF and police forces there, Samir Kuntar shot Danny at short range and murdered Einat in cold blood, smashing her head with the butt of his rifle against a rock. In the hiding place of the Haran family, baby Yael suffocated to death as her mother, Smadar, attempted to stifle her cries in order to prevent being discovered by the terrorists. Another Israeli policeman died in the course of the fighting on the beach.

This is the man whom the State of Israel freed today. A confirmed terrorist whose hands are steeped in the blood of innocent victims, adults and children whose only sin was that they were Jews and citizens of the State of Israel. Samir Kuntar is a hero in the eyes of Hezbollah - a hero who murders Jewish children. And, as befits a hero, we shall witness, in coming days, the celebratory welcome which this confirmed murderer will receive on his return to Lebanon. This is the man whom Hezbollah and its supporters in Lebanon will applaud, will organize marches in his support and will welcome with flowers. And the world will remain silent.

Israel also handed back today the bodies of some 200 terrorists, some of whom were killed in the Second Lebanon War. The bodies returned apparently include that of a female terrorist who headed the unit that carried out the horrendous attack on the coastal road in 1978, in which 37 travelers were murdered, among them, American photographer Gail Rubin, killed as she was photographing birds on the seashore. These are the “heroes” being returned today to Lebanon, the people for whom mass hero funerals will be organized by Hezbollah - one of the most murderous, fanatic and cruel terrorist organizations in the world, an organization which is sponsored and aided by Iran, which controls Lebanon and has not renounced its goal of targeting every Jew and every Israeli - an organization whose terror activities endanger the entire free world.

This is the time when the free world should see the dangers posed by this organization. This is the time when we, the Jewish People across the world, should make our voices heard, when the leaders of Jewish communities and Federations across the world should publicize on every platform the dangers posed by Hezbollah - not just for Israel and the Middle East, but for the whole world. This is the moment when Jewish educators and teachers in the Diaspora should discuss with their pupils the tragic story of the Goldwasser and Regev families. This is the time when Jewish youth, students and members of youth movements should organize commemorative rallies and parades in solidarity with the families of the soldiers and with the State of Israel. It is a time when all of us should pray for the elevation of the souls of Udi and Eldad, may their memory be blessed, and rally round their families in these painful hours.

The family of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization bow their heads and weep at the death of Udi and Eldad. We shall continue to act as a pillar of support their families, as we have for the last two years. At this time, we also remember Gilad Shalit, who is still held hostage in Gaza and we pray together with his family that he will be liberated soon and return to the bosom of his family and his home.

The Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization have opened an information site www.abducted.org.il to enable you to receive ongoing information to help you organize solidarity campaigns and protests. The site will be updated in the coming days with additional information.

In friendship,


Zeev Bielski
The Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel & The World Zionist Organization