A Final Farewell
 

Israel Mourns Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev

World Jewry stood alongside the Goldwasser and Regev families and all the citizens of Israel mourning the loss of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers whose bodies were returned to Israel on July 16, 2008, in exchange for Lebanese militant Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah fighters captured by Israel during the 2006 Hezbollah War, and the bodies
of 199 Hezbollah and Palestinian militants. In sharp contrast to the revelry, fireworks and inflammatory rhetoric in Lebanon, all of Israel was in mourning, with thousands attending the funeral as Regev and Goldwasser were laid to rest.

Ehud “Udi” Goldwasser was born and lived in Nahariya, he worked at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, from which he earned a degree in environment engineering studies. He married his wife, Karnit, 10 months before his capture on Israel’s Lebanese border on July 12, 2006. He was 31.

Eldad Regev was 26. Born and raised Kiryat Motzkin, he attended a religious high school. After completing three years of military service in the elite Givati infantry brigade, he enrolled in Bar Ilan University’s pre-law preparatory course with the aim of being accepted to the university’s Law faculty. In July 2006, Eldad was abducted and taken to Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked his military patrol.

Although it had been hoped the two were alive, it was two bodies that were returned to Israel, and an examination of the bodies following their return, primarily to assure the bodies were in fact those of Regev and Goldwasser, determined that the two reservists were apparently killed during the initial attack.

Miki Goldwasser: Gilad Shalit my New Priority

Following the funeral and during the first hours of shiva, Udi Goldwasser’s mother vowed that she would now devote all her energies towards getting other captured Israeli soldiers returned. She specifically urged that efforts be redoubled to achieve the safe return of Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza by Hamas for over two years. Goldwasser announced that she “now will be on the front lines” of a campaign to bring him home and vowed “We have to keep Gilad’s case top public priority.”

One year after his June 2006 abduction Hamas released a voice recording of Gilad, which his father said was authentic, the first indication that he was still alive. Since then, three letters have been received, again authenticated by his family. Government officials indicate they are working on a deal to achieve his release, but need to do this out of the public eye, so as not to sabotage efforts.