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Abra has been held captive by Hamas for 2,382 days, and his family is waiting for Netanyahu to be remembered as well
Mengistu's family is losing hope.
As they prepare for another holiday without him, they have seen the country make efforts to return the young woman from Syria and hear about alleged efforts to return the remains of Eli Cohen.
The Ashkelon municipality has launched a campaign, and its relatives are demanding from the prime minister: "Do not give up the return of weak citizens"
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Abra Mengistu
Ashkelon
Tomer Glam
Yanir will defend
Tuesday, 16 March 2021, 16:07
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2,382 days in Hamas captivity.
Mangisto (Photo: Courtesy of the family)
Six years have passed since Abra Mengistu crossed the border into Gaza, and his traces have since disappeared.
During these six years no progress has been made on his return, and his family and friends have seen the state make extraordinary efforts to return the rest of the prisoners and missing persons.
In recent months, they say, frustration has reached its peak - with complicated deals in international mediation for the return of the young woman from Syria and repeated reports of searches for the remains of the spy Eli Cohen.
Abra's mother, Agranesh Mengistu, has not stopped hoping for her son's return from Hamas captivity, but despair is permeating.
"As God brought him to Gaza - so I pray every day he comes back. Every holiday I expect it to come, and so far it has not happened. Every holiday I cry until he comes home."
"I felt he would return soon, but now I am losing hope. I keep crying. It is a decree from heaven. We have a good prime minister who takes care of citizens and security, I believe he will return my son," she said.
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"I'm losing hope."
Agranesh Mengistu and Ashkelon Mayor Tomer Glam (Photo: Shai Makhlouf)
"If the parents were from a higher class the attitude would have been different"
"Two years ago, a Palestinian news agency reported that Israel did not demand the return of Mengistu as part of negotiations with Hamas." He has been in captivity for six years and I do not see an effort by the government to do anything serious, "said Yaki Teka, a childhood friend of Mengistu. Not everyone's child probably, and only in recent years do I see ads of people joining the struggle. "
Taka refers to various campaigns that have risen since his disappearance, and have intensified in recent years. Beer Sheva, Ramla and Lod, a protest tent in front of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem, gestures of solidarity on the football fields and profile photos on social media. In addition, a meeting of his family members with Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen and an information campaign in the United States.
"The state does not care about the weaker sections and therefore does not make an effort to release it," Taka explained the reason for the failure of the public struggle.
"If Avra's parents were from a higher class, then they would have had the power to push and get a different treatment. I miss him every day."
another try
This morning, the Ashkelon municipality launched a new awareness campaign, and hung a billboard in the city with its picture, accompanied by the caption "Another holiday without it."
Mayor Tomer Glam has been accompanying the family for many years.
Today, at the start of the campaign, he visited his mother and asked to express sympathy with the pain she was experiencing.
"Someone like me knows how much you care and how much you long to see him," he told her.
"Passover symbolizes the holiday of freedom, which is why we also chose this timing to launch a campaign. As mayor, this issue should be kept on the public agenda until he returns home. It is our moral duty to return those prisoners."
"Passover symbolizes the holiday of freedom."
The sign hung in Ashkelon (Photo: Shai Makhlouf)
According to Glam, "We can give grades to everyone but we are not dealing with it. The heart is torn to see the mother's deep sorrow. As long as Avra is not here then we have not done enough. I turn to my friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - do everything to bring back the smile His mother and Abrah home. "
Gabriel Tigbo, the mayor's adviser on Ethiopian affairs and one of the leaders in the struggle for the liberation of Abra, joined the feelings of his relatives.
"I'm disappointed," he admitted.
"I think the government is not doing enough. There may be things below the surface and not telling the family. We see that about a month ago a civilian crossed Syria and brought it back quickly and that means preachy. We would expect the state and the world to intervene, this is a humanitarian case."
"If this family was strong enough, with resources and connectedness - I believe that Avra's period in captivity would be shortened. I ask the prime minister not to give up bringing weak citizens home, because that is what it looks like at the moment. The prime minister is expected to bring him back."
Abra Mengistu has been held captive by Hamas for 2,382 days.
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