[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING THE MIA's

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                        HON. CHARLES E. SCHUMER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 10, 1997

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join 
me in remembering the Israeli soldiers captured by the Syrians during 
the 1982 Israeli war with Lebanon.
  On June 11, 1982, an Israeli unit battled with a Syrian armored unit 
in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon. Sgt. Zachary Baumel, 1st 
Sgt. Zvi Feldman and Cpl. Yehudah Katz were captured by the Syrians 
that day. They were identified as the Israeli tank crew, and reported 
missing in Damascus. The Israeli tank, flying the Syrian and 
Palestinian flag, was greeted with cheers from bystanders.
  Since that terrible day in 1982, the Israeli and United States 
Governments have been doing their utmost to obtain any possible 
information about the fate of these missing soldiers, working with the 
offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United 
Nations, and other international bodies. According to the Geneva 
Convention, Syria is responsible for the fates of the Israeli soldiers 
because the area in Lebanon where the soldiers disappeared was 
continually controlled by Syria. To this day, despite promises made by 
the Syrian Government and by the PLO, very little information has been 
forthcoming about the condition of Zachary Baumel, Zvi Feldman, and 
Yehudah Katz.
  June 11, marks the anniversary of the day that these soldiers were 
reported missing in action. Fifteen pain-filled years have passed since 
their families have seen their sons, and still President Assad has not 
revealed their whereabouts.
  One of the these missing soldiers, Zachary Baumel is an American 
citizen, from my district in Brooklyn, NY. An ardent basketball fan, 
Zachary began his studies at the Hebrew School in Boro Park. In 1979, 
he moved to Israel with other family members and continued his 
education at Yeshivat Hesder, where religious studies are integrated 
with army service. When the war with Lebanon began, Zachary was 
completing his military service and was looking forward to attending 
Hebrew University, where he had been accepted to study psychology. But 
fate decreed otherwise and on June 11, 1982, he disappeared with Zvi 
Feldman and Yehudah Katz.
  Zachary's parents Yonah and Miriam Baumel have been relentless in 
their pursuit of information about Zachary and his compatriots. I have 
worked closely with the Baumels, as well as the Union of Orthodox 
Jewish Congregations of America, the American Coalition for Missing 
Israeli Soldiers, and the MIA Task Force of the Conference of 
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. These groups have 
been at the forefront of this pursuit of justice. I want to recognize 
their good work and ask my colleagues to join me in supporting their 
efforts. For 15 years, these families have been without their children. 
Answers are long overdue.

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