Family confirms identity of Ron Arad

Family confirms identity of Ron Arad

The promotional clip shows a man who very much resmebled Arad, though it could not be immediately confirmed that it indeed was him.

Arad's family later concluded that the person shown in the video was indeed the missing navigator. They said it was the clearest indication that Ron was alive that they had received in 20 years and expressed the desire to determine who was behind the video's release.

Another part of the clip showed a man hanging on to a cobra attack helicopter; it was unclear who the person was or if the footage was authentic, but it was possible that it was the pilot of Arad's craft, who was rescued hours after the plane was shot down.

Arad has been missing since he was forced to eject from his plane over Lebanon in October 1986.

In the framework of the second phase of a prisoner swap deal between Hizbullah and Israel in 2004, Israel was reportedly to release Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, who murdered three members of the Haran family in Nahariya in 1979, in return for information about Arad.

Last year, Arad's brother Chen criticized the government, claiming that it had no intention of fulfilling the second part of the prisoner swap agreement.

"The second stage was never meant to happen, and if everybody is comfortable, from the chief of staff through the Ministry of Defense to the prime minister, then we'll say that there was a second stage. Let's give them this opportunity to maintain their respect, and say that it was always meant to happen, but has just been delayed," said Arad.

In the first stage, Israel released 400 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the return of kidnapped Israeli businessman Cpl. (res.) Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of St.-Sgts. Benny Avraham, Omar Sawayid and Adi Avitan, who were kidnapped by Hizbullah in October 2000 after crossing into Israel to perform an attack.