By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
The gag order was lifted yesterday. Now we know that two Israelis are in Gaza. One, an Ethiopian, has been there since September, the other, a Bedouin, since April.
Hamas admits to having the Bedouin, but says it knows about - but does not have, the Ethiopian. This sounds like the truth. And that is not good news.
During the operation against Gaza last summer, one of the most important objectives from the Hamas point of view was to capture an Israeli soldier - alive. The Ethiopian could not be an Israeli soldier, he is a learning disabled adult and that becomes immediately recognizable to anyone who meets him.
His name is Avraham Mangisto and he was walking on the beach and crossed the border into Gaza. When soldiers saw him they shouted, to no avail to get his attention, a helicopter was even dispatched to find him. The soldiers saw him walk up to a group of Gaza fisherman and that was the last time he was seen by Israelis.
If Islamic Jihad or ISIS took him, then the situation is very grim. If any other Islamic group has him the scenario is even worse.
The reason the entire situation was not made public before this was to make certain that Hamas, or other terrorists, did not turn it into an international bargaining war. Hamas wants the release of prisoners in Israeli jails. Because Israel was not even acknowledging the situation, there was the opportunity to try to locate the captors through back channels.
Even members of the Israeli security cabinet were in the dark about the situation. They found out about it only from online coverage which was first released on YNET.
Now it seems that all informal avenues have been exhausted. Now Israel is ready to admit that the situation is grave, very grave.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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