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Mother of Missing Israeli Teenager Appeals to U.N. for Help Mother Seeks U.N.’s Help to Return Israeli Youths
(about 11 hours later)
GENEVA — Nearly two weeks after three Israeli teenagers were abducted as they tried to hitchhike home from the West Bank, the mother of one of them appealed Tuesday before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for more international action to secure their release. GENEVA — Nearly two weeks after three Israeli teenagers were abducted as they tried to hitchhike home from the West Bank, the mother of one of them appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council here to ask for more international efforts to secure their release.
With the mothers of the two other missing teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gilad Shaar, 16, sitting behind her, Rachel Fraenkel told the Council, “I have come here before the U.N., before the world, to ask everyone to do whatever they can to bring our boys back.” With the mothers of the two other missing young men sitting behind her, Rachel Fraenkel, the mother of Naftali Fraenkel, 16, told the Council, “I have come here before the U.N., before the world, to ask everyone to do whatever they can to bring our boys back.”
Ms. Fraenkel, the mother of Naftali Fraenkel, 16, thanked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the International Red Cross for condemning the kidnapping and calling for the teenagers’ immediate release. In an emotional address, however, Ms. Fraenkel, who like her son holds joint Israeli and American citizenship, said, “I believe much more could be done and should be done by so many.” Ms. Fraenkel thanked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the International Red Cross for condemning the kidnapping and calling for the immediate release of her son as well as Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gilad Shaar, 16. Ms. Fraenkel, who like her son holds joint Israeli and American citizenship, added, however, “I believe much more could be done and should be done by so many.”
The Israeli prime ministerl, Benjamin Netanyahu, has blamed the militant Islamic movement Hamas for the kidnapping, and in conjunction with the search for the kidnappers has opened one of the biggest Israeli military operations in the West Bank in recent years. The Israeli military says it has arrested about 400 Palestinians during the crackdown, more than half of them Hamas politicians or operatives. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has blamed the militant Islamic movement Hamas for the kidnapping, though he has not, as of yet, offered evidence for his assertion.
On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated his call for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to break his recent reconciliation with Hamas, noting that Hamas’ political leader, Khaled Meshal, had on Monday evening praised the abduction. “Meshal once again made clear that Hamas remains committed to its war against Israel,” the prime minister said in a meeting with his Romanian counterpart in Jerusalem. “So how can President Abbas make an alliance with these terrorists who extol kidnapping?” The search for the teenagers and their abductors set in motion one of the biggest Israeli military operations in the West Bank in recent years.
The United Nations under secretary general for political affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, called on Israel to exercise restraint in its search for the missing teenagers in a meeting with the Security Council on Monday, expressing alarm at the rising death toll from the military’s operations and warning that they could provoke a third intifada. About 400 Palestinians have been arrested, more than half of them Hamas politicians or operatives, during the military operation, and at least two people have been killed and several others wounded.
Addressing the council after the three mothers met the deputy United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Flavia Pansieri, Ms. Fraenkel described how her son had sent her a text message saying he was on his way home from school. “Since then we’ve heard nothing. No news, no sign of life,” Ms. Fraenkel said. In a meeting with the United Nations Security Council on Monday, the undersecretary general for political affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, called on Israel to exercise restraint in the search.
“It is wrong to take children, innocent boys and girls, and use them as instruments of any struggle,” Ms. Fraenkel told the council as it held a general debate on the situation in the Palestinian territories. Mr. Feltman expressed alarm over the deaths and warned that the crackdown could provoke a third intifada.
On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated his call for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to break his recent reconciliation with Hamas, noting that Hamas’s political leader, Khaled Meshal, had on Monday evening praised the abduction. “Meshal once again made clear that Hamas remains committed to its war against Israel,” the prime minister said in Jerusalem. “So how can President Abbas make an alliance with these terrorists who extol kidnapping?”
According to a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone with Mr. Abbas and thanked him for his efforts to find the three teenagers.