Tami Arad, the wife of missing IDF soldier Ron Arad, stated that she doesn't want Israel to pay a price to return him if he's found to be dead, in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Arad stressed that her family has requested throughout the years that any activity carried out in Ron's case not endanger the lives of operatives and that, if Ron is found to not be alive, that no price be paid to return him.
Arad also spoke out against claims that Mossad agents were put at risk during the recent operation to try and find Ron, in a Facebook post on Thursday.
"I checked these things with the most senior officials at the Mossad before and after the operation and was convinced that they were telling the truth," wrote Arad, adding that "Moreover, this is an opportunity to note that during the years they searched for Ron, in the various operations that were carried out, no soldiers or Mossad personnel were killed."
"Not because it is not important to us to bring him home, but because we believe that this message will save the lives of prisoners in the future," wrote Arad. "But we asked and still ask that they continue to look for Ron as long as possible with the condition not to risk life."
Ron Arad's wife berated Alper, the author of an op-ed in Haaretz who called Ron "not an important soldier," saying that from that phrase she learned that "if Alper served in the army he did not find himself in a life-threatening activity because it is hard for me to believe that this would have been expressed if he had been educated to be a fighter."
Alper also wrote in the op-ed published on Thursday that "we know for sure" that Arad is dead, saying that the missing soldier "didn't show extraordinary courage." The journalist also stated that that citizens of Israel do not owe "a particularly large debt" to Arad and that "Israel will not benefit from locating Arad's burial site or learning the specific circumstances of his death."
"If Alper served in the IDF, he probably missed the lessons on IDF values," added Arad. "When soldiers go on a mission and are injured or captured their rescue is not done according to the degree of importance in the army. In combat there is no simple soldier and important soldier. Fighters in all ranks fight back to back and those who need help are rescued."
"If Alper served in the IDF, he probably missed the lessons on IDF values," added Arad. "When soldiers go on a mission and are injured or captured their rescue is not done according to the degree of importance in the army. In combat there is no simple soldier and important soldier. Fighters in all ranks fight back to back and those who need help are rescued."
"'The best way,' Alper writes, 'to honor his memory is to let him ... far from the spotlight he was not looking for, far from the political PR exercises that cynically exploit and demean him.'" cited Arad in the Facebook post. "Regarding media interest, Alper is right. Ron was never interested in the spotlight. His dream was to go to the Weizmann Institute, and we, his family, do not need the interest of the media and live better in the days when Ron does not 'star' in the headlines, but Alper himself earns a living from the media, including from the columns he wrote about Ron, and in his cynical way despises Ron and exploits him for his needs no less, if not more, than journalists or other publicists."
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.