Kidnapping comment from Canberra
Israel’s ambassador to Australia Shmuel Ben-Shmuel has issued the following statement following the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers…
Ambassador Shmuel Ben-Shmuel
“Thursday’s kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers (aged 16, 16 and 19) by Hamas in the West Bank is not only extremely worrying, but an unsurprising consequence of the Hamas-Fatah alliance. It proves that a mere ten days after an alliance was inked, the fairy tale is over and that a Fatah-Hamas peace deal is anything but peaceful.
Following a dozen thwarted kidnapping cases this year, Hamas has reached a new low in kidnapping school-aged religious students. In Australian terms, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel would be in Year 10, while Eyal Yifrah in his first year of university; they are civilians with no military involvement whatsoever.
We are witnessing the entirely predictable outcome of teaming up with a terrorist organisation which is at its core committed to the annihilation of Israel. This outcome which is literally called for in the Hamas charter means the murder of every single one of my countrymen, including these boys. Australia, like countless other western countries legally considers Hamas as a terrorist organisation, whereas President Abbas considers them an ally. Instead of abiding by his international obligation to disarm Hamas, he has made a pact with the devil, and must now accept the consequences.
Israel holds the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas responsible for any attacks against Israel that emanate from Palestinian-controlled territory, and regrets the President’s decision to choose an alliance with terror over negotiation. We applaud the efforts of so many to bring our boys back, and hope and pray that they will be found quickly and safely.”
