Israel on Thursday identified two well-known Hamas operatives in the West Bank as the central suspects in the recent kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers, in the first sign of progress in a frantic two-week search for the missing youths.
Officials said the two men have been missing since the teenagers disappeared, and that a massive manhunt is underway for them.
In a statement, Israel’s Shin Bet security service identified the men as Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh. It said both men are activists from the Hamas terror group in Hebron, the area where the youths disappeared on June 12.
Israel said both Qawasmeh, who was born in 1985, and Abu Aisha, who was born in 1981, have served time in Israeli prisons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has condemned the kidnapping, to end a unity government he formed with the backing of Hamas earlier this month.
“I now expect President Abbas, who said important things in Saudi Arabia, to stand by those words (and) to break his pact with the Hamas terrorist organization that kidnaps children and calls for the destruction of Israel,” he said.
Following the disappearance of the teens, Israel launched its broadest ground operation in the West Bank in nearly a decade, rounding up nearly 400 Palestinians, most of them Hamas terrorists.
Hamas terror leaders in Hebron confirmed the two suspects were members, and said Israeli troops have targeted the men’s homes since the beginning of the operation.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears for their safety, said the brothers and wives of the two men had been taken into custody, though the women have since been released. They said troops had entered the homes several times, conducting intense searches and confiscating certain items as evidence.
A relative of Qawasmeh declined comment, fearing Israeli retribution. Abu Aisha’s family could not immediately be reached.
While Abbas has refused Israeli calls to break up his alliance with Hamas, he has instructed his security forces to continue a controversial policy of security coordination with the Israelis.
A senior Palestinian intelligence official said the two suspects are believed to be hiding and that Palestinian security forces were also searching for them. He said the fact that the two men have been missing since the kidnapping is “clear evidence they have links with the abduction.”
(AP)
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8 Responses
May Hashem protect our security forces from harm and give them hatzlacha in finding the boys and returning them safely to their families!
I HAVE AN IDEA (based on the email below that i received from someone today..*.)….IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THE SITUATION OF BEING EMBARRASSED OR INSULTED BY SOMEONE, TRY NOT TO RESPOND BACK… BUT INSTEAD SAY OUTLOUD OR TO YOURSELF:
HASHEM, IN THE ZECHUS THAT I AM NOT GOING TO RESPOND BACK, PLEASE RETURN OUR THREE BOYS SAFELY TO THEIR FAMILIES.
PLEASE SEND THIS OUT TO OTHERS. WHO KNOWS WHICH ZECHUS WILL BE THE ONE THAT WILL TIP THE SCALE TO GOOD NEWS, B’EZRAS HASHEM?!
“BRACHOS FOR OUR BOYS!!”
____________________________
*here is the email that i got today in regard to shidduchim, but it can be used for anything else too….
Try and find someone who got or gets embarrassed, etc. (especially in public) and doesn’t respond. Get a bracha for a shidduch from them. It’s a very powerful bracha.
For info on this story it goes something like this. Rabbi Zilberstein in sefer Aleinu Lishabayach (i think) tells over a story with Rabbi Kanievsky and the woman. There was a woman who could not conceive a child for many years. She then went to Rabbi Kanievsky for a bracha to be able to conceive. Rabbi Kanievsky told her to find a person who gets embarrassed and does not respond to the embarrassment. Then ask that person who does not respond to the embarrassment for a bracha. This barren woman found someone who got embarrassed and did not respond.The barren woman got a bracha from her and the barren woman conceived shortly thereafter. Rabbi Kanievsky’s lesson is it’s a powerful opportunity to get a bracha from someone who gets embarrassed and does not respond.
The solution seems awfully simple. Take their wives and families and drop them off in Gush Etzion. Leave them to the mercy of the settlers. We’ll see how long these loving husbands stay in hiding.
Release the brothers and wives… Maybe also give them betauch leumi benefits because “nebach ” their husbands are missing!!
CRAZY WORLD!!!
Israel do what should be done!!
israel should arrest their brothers and exchange them for the teens, then it would really be called “operation brother return”
Dear Gold (#2) How does it work? Does it have to be immediately after the embarrassment, or it works even afterwards as long as the person who was embarrassed didn’t respond?
To dovid2: I think Hashem will be happy either way!! Please pass this idea on to others.
#3 UncleMo – 1) Obviously you don’t live her in Israel. The people of Gush Etzion would not do any harm to their families and these terrorist know that. 2)You comment is immature, unrealistic, and potentially harmful. Please use more discretion before posting comments on public media.