‘No one left behind’: Rabbi who fought at Sultan Yacoub reflects on Yehuda Katz recovery

The recovery of the remains of Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, missing for 44 years after the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, has brought a long-awaited measure of closure to one of Israel’s most painful military mysteries.

For Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Ethics Center at the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization and a former deputy company commander who fought on the outskirts of the battle, the news carries both personal and national weight.

“You have to understand that missing soldiers is the worst situation,” Cherlow told i24NEWS.

Katz went missing during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub on June 11, 1982, during the First Lebanon War. Israeli forces encountered a Syrian ambush in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, in a fierce battle that left roughly 20 Israeli soldiers dead and dozens wounded.

Cherlow described a battle that went badly wrong.

“It was a kind of an ambush, that the Syrian army... we were trapped in the ambush,” he said. “We really ran into the ambush and we understood too late that we made a big mistake.”

Katz was one of three soldiers who remained missing from the battle for decades, alongside Zachary Baumel and Zvi Feldman. Baumel’s remains were returned to Israel in 2019, while Feldman’s were recovered in a covert operation in 2025.

The IDF said Katz’s remains were located in a recent operation based on intelligence gathered over several years. His family was informed, though the military has not yet released details about where the operation took place.

For Cherlow, the recovery speaks to Israel’s enduring obligation to those sent into battle.

“This is something that is affecting the entire IDF. That is, no one will be left behind,” he said.

“We have to know that everyone who is sacrificing their life in order to save the State of Israel will not be left behind and we always feel that we have a debt toward him to always bring him back.”

Cherlow said the return matters deeply for the family and for the country.

“The first thing is at least for the families, even though his parents passed away years ago … the fact that at least now we know and are closing the circle is very important.”

The recovery also forces Israel to reckon with the battle itself, Cherlow said, praising the soldiers who fought while acknowledging the operational failure.

“The soldiers that were on the battlefield are heroes,” he said. “But from the other hand, it was a failure. And when you have a stain of a failure for 44 years, the fact that the story is going to be closed and that’s the end of this story, I think it’s very important for us to understand that sometimes we don’t succeed. And sometimes we fail to complete the mission.”

Cherlow said the commitment to bring missing soldiers home is essential not only for grieving families, but also for those currently serving. It's a timely message, as more than four decades later, there are still Israeli soldiers currently operating in Lebanon.

“A soldier when he goes to the battlefield knows... that he’s not alone. The entire society, the entire state, the IDF, are behind him.”

“I hope that the families really believe and can trust the state of Israel and the authorities... that we will do as much as we can and we will be devoted to finding the bodies of everyone that is missing,” he added. “Everyone will know that we are doing as much as we can.”