43 years after first Lebanon War, fallen soldier Tzvi Feldman returned to Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that the body of Sgt. Tzvi Feldman, an IDF soldier missing since the Battle of Sultan Yaqoub in the First Lebanon War in June 1982, has been returned to Israel. The recovery was made possible through a special operation carried out by the Mossad and the IDF, bringing closure to a 43-year national and personal ordeal.

Netanyahu paid the Feldman family a visit.

Here is Benjamin Netanyahu's statement released today (Sunday):

In a special operation by the Mossad and the IDF, we have brought back home the body of armored soldier Sergeant Major Tzvi Feldman, who fell in battle at Sultan Yaakov in June 1982 during the First Lebanon War.

For decades, Tzvika was missing, and the efforts to locate him alongside the other missing soldiers from that battle never ceased. About six years ago, we brought the body of Sergeant Zecharia Baumel to Israel; today we have returned Tzvika, and we will not stop working for the return of Sergeant Yehuda Katz, who is still missing from that battle.

For many years, I authorized numerous covert operations to locate the missing soldiers of Sultan Yaakov, and I promised the Feldman family that I would never cease to act for Tzvika's return home.

The dear parents, Pnina and Avraham, did not stop working on this issue, and sadly, they have already passed away. We are returning to you - Itzik, Shlomo, and Anat - your dear Tzvika, to you and to the land of Israel that he loved so much.

I would like to thank the Mossad, the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the coordinator of the POW/MIA affairs, Gal Hirsch, for decades of efforts and for their moral, determined, and courageous work to return Tzvika and all our missing and abducted - both the living and the deceased.