Zachary Baumel 10848 Days Missing

Tzvi Feldman 10848 Days Missing

Yehuda Katz 10848 Days Missing

Ron Arad 9260 Days Missing

Guy Hever 5302 Days Missing

Majdy Halabi 2465 Days Missing

MAJDY HALABI

“We believe in a strong Israel and the Druse soldier today is no different from his Jewish comrade in commitment and fighting ability. We feel we are together with the Jewish people, like brothers. We are patriotic and love this country and all its people." IDF Lieutenant-Colonel Hasson Druse Community

The Israeli Druse community is the only major non-Jewish group whose sons are required to serve in the IDF. Over the past years the community has forged a covenant of blood with the Jewish State, suffering hundreds of casualties. Not far from where one of Majdy’s posters hangs in Daliat al-Carmel, is a memorial centre for fallen Druse IDF soldiers, testifying to the supreme sacrifice paid by the community in the defence of the state.

Majdy Halabi was 19 years old when he disappeared on 24th May 2005. He was in IDF uniform, five months into his basic training and returning from home in Daliat al-Carmel to his base in Haifa. Over the ensuing days more than 100 volunteers participated in search efforts in the Mount Carmel area. He had taken out money from the bank and had been seen drinking a can of coke at the town’s central bus station. “What happened thereafter is a mystery that to this day has baffled the Halabi family, police, military and government, all the way up to the Prime Minister’s office….” Says Samih Halabi uncle to Majdy and a retired IDF Colonel.

After two years extensive searching within Israel Samih said:

“We are left in no doubt that Majdy – like Shalit, Goldwasser and Regev – has been kidnapped”

"No different to Jewish parents whose sons are missing, the lives of Nazmy and Fehmiya Halabi, Majdy's parents, are on hold. "There is never a moment when we are not thinking about him. Is he okay? Does he have food to eat, clothing to keep him warm or medicine should he need? It has been too many seasons and I am struggling to cope with this," says mother Fehmiya. "My husband has found other ways to deal with the crisis. He volunteers every day for the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers (Ha'Aguda Lama'an Hahayal). During the Second Lebanon War he used to visit injured soldiers at Rambam Hospital in Haifa and offered his services to help in whatever way he could." He is also determined that what happened to his son does not happen to other Druse soldiers living in the Carmel. "I am trying to organize a transportation system for our youngsters in the army, so that they can be assured in the future of arriving safely at their bases," says Nazmi.