Mr. Yonah Baumel z”l, the father of IDF MIA Zechariah Baumel, was niftar over Shavuos at the age of 81. The levaya took place on motzei Shabbos.

Mr. Baumel was untiring in his efforts on behalf of his son and fellow soldiers, all members of a hesder yeshiva tank unit, Yehuda Katz and Tzvi Feldman. While the government presumes they are dead, the families have never accepted the ruling. The three disappeared in the battle of Sultan Yakoub June 10, 1982.

The tank’s command, Chezi Shai, was returned in a 1985 prisoner exchange. In 1983, the Red Cross was permitted to exhume a number of bodies. One was identified as soldier Zohar Lifshitz, one of the soldiers from Baumel’s tank. While the Syrian’s insisted the other three were the soldiers mentioned above, the forensic tests proved otherwise.

Since that time, the niftar traveled the world on behalf of his son, seeking to enlist the support of various governments to intercede on his behalf, to assist to learn what happened to the soldiers. As an American citizen, he tried numerous times to obtain American support for his efforts.

Hundreds attended the levaya. Mr. Baumel is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)