Ron Arad - Le'Hofesh Nolad (born to be free)

October 16 marked twenty years since the capture of Israeli Air Force Navigator Ron Arad by members of an Iranian-backed Shiite group, Amal, in Lebanon. Despite the Israeli government's efforts, to this day the fate of Ron Arad in still unknown.

I first became aware of Ron Arad's plight in 1998, as a year 10 student at Mount Scopus College. I had taken an elective called 'Israel Studies', and during the course we had been shown a video about the amount of time that Ron had been in captivity - 12 years. I was fifteen, 12 years was 4/5 of my life.

My class decided that we wanted to take action. We had no idea just how big this issue was, and I guess at the time it didn’t matter. We were told that Arad was believed to be held captive in Iran, and we decided we would petition to the Australian Government to stop trade with Iran in order to put pressure on them to release information about Arad’s whereabouts.

At the same time, we also learnt about three other Missing in Action Israeli soldiers Zvi Feldman, Zachary Baumel and Yehuda Katz.

As I type this now, eight years later, I realise how crazy the whole idea seemed. Imagine a year 10 student approached you now and asked you to sign a similar petition calling for Iran to stop its nuclear activity.

Nevertheless, we took the petition around the school and to the streets and got thousands and thousands of signatures. We decided we would present copies of the petition to top politicians in Canberra including Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby, among others.

While we were there, we also decided to hold a candlelight vigil outside the Iranian Embassy. Armed with posters, candles and Israeli flags, we took turns reading about the lives and narratives of Israel’s Missing in Action Soldiers, in the hope that someone might be listening.

As we stood in the pouring rain, finally a sign came. The light that had been on outside the Embassy was turned off, leaving us to stand in complete darkness.

We came home from Canberra and everyone I guess moved on with their lives. When I went on Ulpan six months later, we were given the option to do volunteer work at various places around Jerusalem. My choice was easy – I went to hand out pamphlets for the International Coalition for Missing in Action Soldiers. What struck me about the coalition was actually the number of missing in action soldiers they were advocating for. Four men.

The proposals for the returned included thousands and thousands of Arab prisoners.

It was then I realised the value that the Israeli Army/Government places on each individual human being. As many Israeli friends have told me, one of the first principles in the IDF is to never leave a solider behind in the field. For the next eight years, my only reminder of Ron Arad was a fading sticker stuck on my door that read ‘Ron Arad – Le’Hofesh Nolad’, which loosely translated means, ‘Ron Arad – Born to Be Free’.

When Gilad Shalit was kidnapped on June 25, and then Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on July 12, I was reminded again of this idea of never leaving a soldier in the field.

When I think about the importance that Israel places on each and every life, my heart is filled with pride. These men remain in my thoughts everyday and I pray that they are returned home safely to their families. And if not, then at least their fate be made known so that their families can feel some level of closure.

Please keep Gilad, Ehud, Eldad, Ron, Tzvi, Zachary, Yehuda and Guy in your thoughts and prayers, and remember just how important every life is - we were all born to be free.