They Lied to Us

Before the bodies of the three boys were found, the news was, "While senior IDF officials have announced that in the army's estimation, the three yeshiva students kidnapped last Thursday night are still alive and being kept somewhere in the Judean Hills ..."

After the bodies of the three boys were found, the news was, "With the horrific news that the bodies .. had been found, came details of their abduction that had been withheld from the public during the 18 days search for them.  The IDF knew almost from the start that there was little hope that the three yeshiva students were alive."

As reported in Y Rosenblum's column, they knew this because of the recording of the boy's phone call to the police in which gunfire could be heard, and cries of pain afterward, and voices speaking in Arabic congratulating one another.  The next day, the IDF found the kidnappers' bloodstained burned-out car which contained bullet casings.  All this information and the IDF's assessment that the boys had been murdered was shared with their families.

They weren't honest with the public.  The public prayed and prayed and made many mitzva commitments for the sake of bringing the boys home alive and well, while the authorities knew they were dead. 

Why did they mislead the public? Well, it gave them 18 days to raid thousands of buildings and arrest hundreds of terrorists.  Apparently, it is only when there is an excuse of missing boys that the government allows itself to protect the nation by cleaning out the nests of terrorists in our midst.  The longer they could keep their secret, the more raids and arrests they could make under the guise of looking for missing, live, boys.