But even the reporters could not mask their grief – and two of the three journalists were unable to come to the microphone.
So many, so very many, hoped and prayed for the outcome to be different.
Tens of thousands of Israel’s finest soldiers combed the hills of Judea day and night, scrutinized hundreds of homes, finding countless new and previously undiscovered smuggling tunnels, weapons caches, bomb factories, secret chambers, caves and other hiding places – some even under or behind places that otherwise appear to be “ancient” agricultural terraces. The possibilities and the creativity behind the hiding places seemed endless.
And yet our soldiers remained motivated, their energy boundless, and determination unwavering, they were driven to succeed at all costs. Each day, and every night.
A nightmare that could have dragged on for years – as it did with IDF reservists Goldwasser and Regev – has ended, just 18 days after it began.
Not the way we wanted it to. Not the way anyone hoped for, and Operation Brother’s Keeper will continue as the security forces continue their search for the perpetrators who committed this crime.
But the fate of the three kidnapped teens is known at last and their horror is ended. That of their parents, sadly, is not. In some ways it never will be.
Perhaps the comfort to be had from this is the possibility that the boys hopefully suffered little other than the initial fright at being captured. So far the evidence points to their lives having been taken from them nearly immediately; one is forced to believe that this much is true. Another comfort is the fact that the truth is now known, and that they were found so quickly — within days of their disappearance. There are so many others whose families to this day still wonder about their fate.
It is this author’s belief that the terrorists who carried out this horrendous operation could not have done so alone. Yes they were members of Hamas, but it was most likely a coalition operation of more than one terrorist group. Given the current evidence, probably Hamas operatives worked in concert with a Hezbollah group, and possibly backed by the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees.
With the help of God our government will learn the bitter lessons to be had from this and will implement the needed procedures to prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again.
Eyal Yifrach. Naftali Frenkel. Gilad Sha’ar.
May God avenge their blood.