My Word: Still bringing them home

The remains and personal effects of IDF Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, missing for 44 years, have been located and will be buried in Israel, providing a measure of closure for his family. Katz, who was 23 when he disappeared in the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the First Lebanon War, was one of three soldiers declared missing in action from that brutal tank battle.

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Knowing his fate, however awful, is better than not knowing.

For decades, Katz, along with Zachary (Zacharia) Baumel and Tzvi Feldman, were known as the "Sultan Yacoub III." Baumel's body was returned in 2019 with Russian assistance, and Feldman's remains were retrieved last summer in a Mossad operation. The Mossad was also instrumental in locating Katz, the last soldier from that battle whose fate remained unknown.

While the exact location where Katz's body was found was not immediately disclosed, and it was initially unclear if his full remains were recovered, his family now has the relief of knowing his fate. This certainty, however grim, is considered better than the prolonged fear of captivity that his sister had repeatedly expressed.

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Redeeming captives is part of Jewish tradition.

The recovery of Katz's remains resonates with a broader national commitment, deeply embedded in Jewish tradition, to redeem captives and account for fallen soldiers. This principle was powerfully demonstrated during the Israel-Hamas War following the October 7, 2023, attacks, where the slogan "Until the last hostage" became a national refrain. Despite the often high price of prisoner exchanges, the underlying tenet remains: leaving no one behind, alive or dead. The retrieval of Katz's remains is a testament to this enduring national ethos.

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Sometimes the price has been unbearably high – like the release of thousands of terrorists from Israeli prisons in return for soldier Gilad Schalit in 2010.