Hundred of Israelis celebrated the 35th birthday of missing air force navigator Ron Arad on Wednesday, but the question on everyone’s mind was whether Arad himself was celebrating it.
Arad bailed out from his fighter plane over Lebanon in 1986 and was believed to have been held by pro-Iranian troops in Lebanon. The last time any message was received that he was alive was in October 1987.
There have been sporadic reports that he was transferred to captivity in Iran.
Those attending the celebration at the Tel Aviv Museum vowed to continue celebrating, as long as there is hope he is still alive and could come home.
The birthday celebration, without the birthday boy, has become a tradition, initiated by Arad’s friends in the Boy Scouts movement.
Chen Arad, Ron’s brother, told reporters the family continued to hear rumors that Ron was still alive, but it had no substantial support for that information.
“It is an unhappy experience, especially when you see a little girl who comes to the birthday of her father and doesn’t know her father,” said the brother.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sent his greetings to the ceremony, promising that Israel would do its utmost to return Arad to his family.
“I pray with you that Ron’s next birthday — and even before that — will be celebrated together with him,” the prime minister wrote.
Hundreds of Boy Scouts from throughout the country attended the ceremony, conducted as if it were a celebration with the celebrant, complete with a huge cake with 35 candles.
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