44 years after his death: The last missing soldier from the Sultan Yacoub battle is laid to rest
The funeral procession for Yehuda Katz, who fell in battle in 1982 and whose remains were returned this week from Lebanon, departed from the Hesder Yeshiva where he studied in Yavne to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. "The prayer for his return never ceased," the Union of Hesder Yeshivas eulogized. "Yehuda embodied the connection between the study hall and the responsibility for the people and the land."
After 44 years, Yehuda Katz, the last missing soldier from the Sultan Yacoub battle in the First Lebanon War, whose remains were located this week and returned to Israel, was laid to rest this morning, Friday. His funeral procession departed for the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem from the Kerem B'Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva, where he studied, as his family members, yeshiva rabbis, alumni, and students gathered at the site and spoke in his memory.
Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg, head of the Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshiva, eulogized Katz:
"There are those who think that yeshiva students deteriorate in the army, there is such discourse, but with Yehuda it was the opposite. He wrote down for himself what special reinforcements he took upon himself to maintain in the army."
The Union of Hesder Yeshivas stated: "For 44 years, Yehuda Yekutiel Katz was missing to his family, his friends, the Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshiva, and the entire family of Hesder Yeshivas. Generations of students have been born and raised since that battle, but the prayer for his return never ceased. Yehuda embodied in his character the deep foundation upon which the world of Hesder Yeshivas is built — the connection between the study hall and the responsibility for the people and the land, between the toil in Torah and the willingness to leave the books at a moment's notice, to put on a uniform, and to go out to defend Israel. We embrace the Katz family, his friends, and the family of the Kerem B'Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva."
A soldier who fought alongside Yehuda Katz in the Sultan Yacoub battle said: "For 44 years I prayed for this moment."
The IDF announced that on the night between Monday and Tuesday, in a joint operation with the Mossad, the remains of Staff Sergeant Katz were located. In that same battle, on June 11, 1982, the IDF left six soldiers in the field. Three of them remained missing for decades — the body of Staff Sergeant Zachary Baumel was returned seven years ago, and last year the body of Staff Sergeant Zvi Feldman was returned in a special operation from the heart of Syria.
The battle 44 years ago was fought between Syrian army forces and Israeli forces and took place on the sixth day of Operation Peace for Galilee. At the end of the battle, there were 20 dead among the IDF soldiers, dozens of wounded, and six missing. The circumstances and moves of the battle were at the center of research and public controversy, likely due to its difficult results, the uncertainty regarding the fate of the missing, and various claims directed at the battle's commanders.
