Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar thanked President Vladimir Putin on Thursday for his assistance in transferring to Israel the remains of Israeli Sgt. Zachary Baumel, who had been missing since 1982 after a battle between Israeli and Syrian troops during the First Lebanon War
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2019) Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar thanked President Vladimir Putin on Thursday for his assistance in transferring to Israel the remains of Israeli Sgt. Zachary Baumel, who had been missing since 1982 after a battle between Israeli and Syrian troops during the First Lebanon War.Earlier on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Moscow transferred to Israel the remains of Baumel who was one of the three soldiers who went missing when the Israel Defense Forces' tank battalion was fighting Syrian troops near the Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub, close to the Syrian border. His burial place has been recently located by the Russian servicemen during the Syrian operation.
"Thank you so much for your help and assistance in returning the remains of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel for burying them in his homeland, in the presence of loved ones," Lazar said in a statement on Facebook.
He noted that it is a "sacred duty" for Jewish people to have an opportunity to bury the body in accordance with the laws of faith.
"I have often raised this topic in conversations with the Russian leadership, and I know that everything was done to solve the problem. Today, thank God, I can express my gratitude to you not only from myself and from the Russian Jews, but from the whole Jewish people, wherever they live," Lazar concluded.
The soldier's remains were given to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so that Baumel's relatives could bury him on native ground. He is due to be buried later on Thursday.
