Israeli kidnapped in Ethiopia: Israeli media

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
12 Jul 2023 00:22

The Israeli occupation Foreign Ministry says the settler was touring a forest in Ethiopia a few days ago before his traces disappeared.

Terraced hills are seen off the road between Gondar and Danshe, a town in an area of western Tigray, Ethiopia, on May 1, 2021 (AP)

Israeli media reported on Tuesday evening that an Israeli settler was kidnapped during his tourist trip to Ethiopia.

The media mentioned that the Israeli occupation Foreign Ministry and the Israeli consul in Ethiopia are working with local authorities, as well as with Interpol, to determine the whereabouts of the settler.

Israeli media revealed that Interpol and Ethiopian authorities contacted the kidnappers who demanded hundreds of thousands of shekels.

The Israeli occupation Foreign Ministry said the settler was touring a forest in Ethiopia a few days ago before his traces disappeared.

The media suggested that the settler was kidnapped several days ago, adding that he sent a voice message to his family, in which he said: "Help me. I am in the middle of the jungle."

In his message, the settler told his family, "Torrential rain is falling. Help me. I should have come back Sunday. I will probably stay here. Help me, my children. This trouble I wouldn’t wish upon my enemies. Help me," as per Israeli media.

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the settler was kidnapped in the tourist city of Gondar, located in northern Ethiopia, adding that the Israeli consul in Ethiopia is working with Ethiopian authorities and police on this file.

The Ministry suggested that the kidnapping took place for "criminal motives".

In a similar incident, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office accused the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah of kidnapping Israeli-Russian woman Elizabeth Tsurkov, who has been reported missing in Iraq for months.

Netanyahu's office claimed that Tsurkov had visited Iraq "on her Russian passport at her own initiative pursuant to work on her doctorate and academic research on behalf of Princeton University in the US."

AFP quoted an Iraqi intelligence source as saying that Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad "at the beginning of Ramadan," the Muslim fasting month which this year started on March 23.

It is noteworthy that Tsurkov has been over the past years working on preparing field research in Iraq, Syria, and occupied Palestine, for the benefit of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, based in Philadelphia, and the Forum for Regional Thinking, an Israeli think tank based in occupied Al-Quds.