Israeli official: We won't release terrorists in return for Israelis held in Gaza

"We have no intention of releasing terrorists in exchange for the two [Israeli] citizens who entered Gaza," an Israeli security official said Thursday, after a gag order was lifted to reveal that it is believed that two Israelis are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"On the one hand, the state is committed to protecting them because they are Israeli citizens, but on the other hand, these are not soldiers who were kidnapped. They are two mentally unstable individuals who crossed into Gaza voluntarily. This is not a classic abduction, it is something different. This incident is on a humanitarian level," the official said.


Credit:Reuters

After months of gag orders, it was revealed on Thursday that Avera Mengistu, 28, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent, is being held in Gaza after crossing the border fence into Gaza last September. It was also revealed that a mentally unstable Israeli Bedouin crossed the border fence in April and is being held by Hamas. A gag order has been placed on his identity.

The family of the missing Bedouin has denied that he is being held by Hamas. They claim that he has entered Gaza several times in the past and has always returned. They say that he is being held by someone, but they do not know who.

President Reuven Rivlin said Thursday: "This is a painful affair that I and the relevant officials at the President's Residence have been monitoring since the start. I am in constant contact with the Mengistu family, and I know that the individuals responsible for such cases [in the government] are doing their work diligently.

"This is a humanitarian affair, and we expect his captives to behave accordingly and return him safe and sound."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "we are working to secure the return of the two Israelis who crossed the border into Gaza. We hold Hamas responsible for their well-being. I have appointed a representative to act on my behalf, coordinate action on the issue, and maintain contact with the families.

"Yesterday [Wednesday] I spoke with Avera Mengistu's parents, and I told them that we have spared no effort to bring him home to Israel since the moment we learned of this incident. We made plans to meet soon."

The prime minister was scheduled to meet with the family on Friday, but the meeting was postponed at the family's request.

"I expect the international community, which cares so much about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, to issue an earnest call for the release and return of our citizens," Netanyahu added.

Mengistu's brother also called on the international community to exert pressure on the captors. At a news conference Thursday, Ilan Mengistu said his brother was not in the best of health. He called the situation "a difficult humanitarian matter."

Ilan Mengistu did not elaborate, but Channel 2 cited the family as saying that the missing Israeli was depressed following the death of another brother.

It was not immediately clear why the cabinet had not held a meeting on the topic in the 10 months since Mengistu went missing, and why no information was provided to the ministers or to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Former ministers, including MK Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid) and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who were members of the cabinet until the March 17 elections, said they were not familiar with the case.

"I was surprised to learn about the incident on the news, even though I was a member of all the innermost forums as foreign minister," Lieberman said Thursday.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee issued a statement saying, "The committee, and particularly the Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services, receives regular briefings on a plethora of diplomatic and security issues on the government's agenda, including the most sensitive of issues. In this particular case a one-time error appears to have been made. We will study the turn of events and make sure this is not repeated in the future."

Meanwhile, a difficult conversation between the Mengistu family and the prime minister's coordinator on the issue of hostages and missing persons, Col. (res.) Lior Lotan, was recorded without his knowledge and released by the media on Thursday. Late Thursday, Lotan apologized for what he had said.

"I spoke with the family of Avera Mengistu and I apologized for the content and tone of some of the things that were said during this long conversation," Lotan said. "The good relationship that we have developed in the months that have passed [since Mengistu went missing] will continue in our joint efforts to bring Avera home."

Netanyahu also commented on the controversy Thursday, saying that Lotan's remarks "should not have been made. ... It is good that Lior spoke with the family and apologized to them. He has been working day and night, on a volunteer basis, to bring our soldiers and missing citizens home."

The controversy began when Channel 10 aired a recorded conversation in which Lotan tries to convince the family to maintain a low profile and prevent the affair from going public. In the recording, Lotan is heard saying, "I don't like this. Meetings with me are not to be documented. If you are going to document meetings, decide what you want: Do you want to work together or play tricks-

"You have one option -- to point the finger at Hamas and say, 'You are holding Avera, you are responsible for his fate, give him back to us,' and you have a second option -- to turn that finger away from Hamas, toward Jerusalem, and say [to the government], 'You are doing something wrong.' If you throw the tension between the Ethiopian community and the Israeli government on top of Avera's story, it will ensure that he remains in Gaza for another year."

Referring to the family's complaint that the prime minister had failed to respond to their letters, which they voiced in a telephone conversation with the prime minister this week, Lotan scolded them, saying, "What happened with the prime minister is very serious. It is so serious that I don't even know what to say. The only thing that the prime minister hears is that he didn't return letters? I don't know if I want to give you answers, go talk to whomever you want. The prime minister is a human being, what do you think, that he will take more and more criticism, and that is the most important thing to him-"

Earlier, a statement on behalf of Lotan stated that "the prime minister's coordinator on the issue of hostages and missing persons has maintained constant and ongoing contact with the Mengistu family for months. Lotan has pledged to the family that the prime minister and the entire establishment will do whatever it takes to bring their son home."

The family clarified that they did not record the conversation that aired Thursday, nor were they aware that it was being recorded. The family also said they had accepted Lotan's apology and would continue to work with him.

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