{"id":9362,"date":"2026-03-08T12:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/9362\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T12:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:03:07","slug":"ron-arad-and-israels-secret-operation-deep-inside-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/9362\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron Arad and Israel\u2019s secret operation deep inside Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday night, as families across Israel sat at their Shabbat tables, something extraordinary was happening far from home. An elite Israeli special forces commando unit flew hundreds of miles deep into Lebanon<\/a> aboard four helicopters. Fighter jets circled above them, striking targets in the area to protect the operation.<\/p>\n

Anyone hearing about such a complex mission would assume the goal was to capture senior Hezbollah<\/a> leaders or eliminate major terrorists.<\/p>\n

But that was not the mission.<\/p>\n

Yes, during the battle, about 40 Hezbollah terrorists were killed. But that was not why those soldiers risked their lives.<\/p>\n

The mission was to bring home the remains of one Israeli hero, Ron Arad<\/a>, an Israeli Air Force<\/a> navigator who went missing in 1986 after his aircraft fell over Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\"StrikesStrikes carried out in Lebanon by the IAF since the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, March 6, 2026. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)<\/p>\n

For nearly 40 years Israel has never stopped searching for him. For a time, he was believed to be alive in captivity.<\/p>\n

Later it became likely that he was murdered by Hezbollah or Syrian agents, and his body was never found.<\/p>\n

Even Ron Arad\u2019s remarkable wife asked the government not to risk soldiers\u2019 lives searching for his remains. She understood the cost.<\/p>\n

And yet Israel still tries.<\/p>\n

This reveals something very deep about the Jewish people and about the State of Israel. We fight for every life and for every soul. Unlike some armies that neglect even their living soldiers, Israel fights for every person, alive or deceased.<\/p>\n

We saw it again after October 7, when Israel fought to bring every hostage home, whether alive or not.<\/p>\n

This value is not new: It is thousands of years old.<\/p>\n

It goes back to Joseph.<\/p>\n

Moses retrieves Joseph’s body from Egypt<\/p>\n

Joseph asked his brothers to promise that when the Jewish people would one day leave Egypt and return to the Land of Israel, they would not leave him behind; they must take his remains with them.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of years later, after generations of slavery and suffering in Egypt<\/a>, the Jewish people were finally freed by Moses.<\/p>\n

The Torah tells us that while many were busy gathering possessions and preparing for the long journey, Moses himself focused on something else. Moses went to retrieve the bones of Joseph.<\/p>\n

Centuries had passed. An entire nation had suffered slavery. Yet Moses remembered the promise.<\/p>\n

For 40 years in the desert, through battles, hunger, thirst, and internal struggles, Joseph\u2019s remains were carried with the Jewish people and guarded day and night.<\/p>\n

When the Jewish people finally entered the Land of Israel, Joseph was buried in Shechem. Until this very day, Jews still visit his tomb.<\/p>\n

When I heard about the operation in Lebanon last night, I immediately thought about Moses.<\/p>\n

Centuries after Joseph asked not to be left behind, Moses fulfilled that promise. The same values continue to guide the Jewish people today.<\/p>\n

The spirit of retrieving Ron Arad in the middle of a very intense war, deep inside enemy territory, against the worst enemies of the Jewish people in more than 85 years, is exactly that same spirit. It keeps us alive as a nation. It reminds us who we are. And ultimately, it will bring us victory.<\/p>\n

Od Yossef Chai \u2013 Am Yisrael Chai!<\/p>\n

Joseph still lives \u2013 the Nation of Israel lives!<\/p>\n

The writer is the founder and president of United Hatzalah of Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday night, as families across Israel sat at their Shabbat tables, something extraordinary was happening far from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[655,100,423,37,1045,2421,502,499,93,49,5631,463,1413],"class_list":{"0":"post-9362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-egypt","9":"tag-hezbollah","10":"tag-idf","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israeli-air-force","13":"tag-israelis","14":"tag-jews","15":"tag-judaism","16":"tag-lebanon","17":"tag-middle-east","18":"tag-moses","19":"tag-religion","20":"tag-the-october-7-massacre"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116193460400254002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}