Israelis mourn soldiers returned by Lebanon

The soldiers’ capture sparked a 34-day war two years ago.

NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Thousands of Israelis prayed and cried at funerals Thursday for two soldiers whose return from Lebanon in black coffins touched off a nationwide wave of anguish.

Across the border, a second day of celebrations swept Lebanon for the five militants freed by Israel in exchange for the soldiers’ bodies. The five prayed at the grave of a slain Hezbollah military commander and vowed to keep fighting Israel.

The contrast in moods was tangible. In Israel, sorrowful pictures and sounds of the funerals of the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, dominated TV and radio broadcasts through the day, the tears of the widows and parents shown over and over.

“Saying farewell to Udi and Eldad,” read Channel 2’s on-screen banner under video from one of the funerals as the station played a sad song of the death of a soldier usually reserved for Memorial Day.

Soldiers carried Regev’s casket, draped with the blue and white Israeli flag, into the military cemetery in the northern city of Haifa. A military rabbi chanted as Regev’s father leaned on another family member, who comforted him. Thousands of other mourners trailed behind.

Regev and Goldwasser were captured two years ago in a cross-border raid by Hezbollah fighters — an attack that led to a 34-day war between Israel and the Islamic militant group in southern Lebanon.

Regev’s brother, Ofer Regev, bitterly denounced Hezbollah for refusing to say during the two years whether the two men were dead or alive.

“Our enemy has been exposed as the complete opposite of us, a cruel mirror image of everything that is human and acceptable among human beings,” he said.

Earlier in the day, soldiers from Goldwasser’s reserve unit, who asked to be called up to duty for the day, carried his casket to the grave, lowering it into the ground in Nahariya, another northern town.

His widow, Karnit, held on to her father-in-law as both wiped away tears. “Maybe time will allow the bleeding wounds to heal,” she said.

In keeping with Jewish tradition, Goldwasser’s father, Shlomo, wore a shirt ripped at the front to signify mourning.

Over the past two years, Karnit Goldwasser had led a campaign to secure the release of her husband and Regev, frequently traveling abroad and meeting with world leaders, even confronting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a New York news conference last September. The campaign made her one of Israel’s most recognized faces.

The prisoner exchange with Hezbollah closed a painful chapter from Israel’s 2006 war against the militant group.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose handling of the 2006 war was widely criticized, did not attend either funeral, although he was present at a ceremony Wednesday when the soldiers’ remains were returned.

The swap with Hezbollah raised questions in Israel about its policy of bringing back its soldiers, dead or alive, at almost any price. Critics argued that the uneven exchanges with militant groups only encourage more abductions.

But Defense Minister Ehud Barak, his voice breaking, told soldiers at Goldwasser’s funeral that if “the worst will happen to any” of them, Israel would “make every possible and legitimate effort” to bring them home.

“To our enemies, I say today that Israel seeks life and peace but will not be deterred from waging fierce war against cruel terrorism,” he added.

In Lebanon, attention centered on Samir Kantar, who spent nearly three decades in an Israeli prison after being convicted of killing a father, his 4-year-old daughter and a policeman during a 1979 attack. He denied killing the little girl.