Friends and family of Ethiopian-Israeli Avera Mengistu, who is reportedly being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, staged a protest outside Hadarim prison in central Israel on Monday morning. Mengistu, 28, disappeared after entering Gaza on his own accord on Sept. 7, 2014, two weeks after the end of Israel's war with the Hamas terrorist group last summer. He is believed to be mentally unstable. Protesters asked Palestinians visiting their loved ones in prison to pass their message on to Hamas, passing out fliers in Arabic. The Mengistu family says this will be the first in a series of humanitarian protests against Hamas. "This is just the beginning of a long struggle, and we don't know when or how it will end," activist Matan Ayala said at the demonstration. "We came here to make families understand that they can visit their [loved ones] whenever they want. Prisoners from Hamas receive humanitarian aid [in Israeli jails]. Trucks with aid from all over the world enter Gaza, while we get no information about Avera. The time has come to drop the gloves and bring Avera's case out into the light and bring him home." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the Mengistu family more than a month ago, promising to do everything possible to return their son. According to the family, progress toward his release has yet to be made.
Credit: Moshe Ben-Simhon
The protest at Hadarim prison was timed to coincide with visitors' day for Palestinian inmates there. The family and activists demonstrated against Hamas' inhumane holding of Mengistu, noting that in Israel humanitarian rights are respected and Palestinian prisoners receive visits from their families.
