100 days missing: Parents of Moshe Klinerman, 16, urge police to do more
Mother maintains her son was kidnapped; father says ‘hard to believe’ more can’t be done; regional police commander visits family home, but has no update
The parents of a teenage boy who vanished in the north of country counted 100 days on Monday since his disappearance, as police offered no new information in the case.
Yeshiva student Moshe Klinerman, 16, was last seen on March 25 when he left his home in the settlement of Modiin Illit with a few friends for a trip to the Mount Meron area in northern Israel.
Police last week said they had arrested a suspect in connection with the case. Details of the investigation are barred from publication and it wasn’t clear what the suspect was accused of. The search for Klinerman was given new vigor in the wake of the arrest but there has been no update on any progress since.
Speaking to the Kan public broadcaster on Monday, Klinerman’s mother, Giti, repeated the family’s belief that the teenager was kidnapped.
“I think someone grabbed him and did something to him,” she said. “There is no other explanation for a youth, 16 years old, in the prime of his life, disappearing like that.”
She said that other than being told of the arrest last week, she was unaware of any developments.
On Sunday the commander of the Judea and Samaria District Police Department, Deputy Commissioner Uzi Levy, visited the Klinermans at their home. He declined to comment to the media on the meeting. Speaking afterward to reporters, the Klinermans expressed frustration with the slow progress of the case and the feeling police could do more.
“I can’t believe that I am in this situation, sitting here at home 99 days after my son disappeared and they don’t know where he is,” Giti said following what she said was the first visit by a senior police officer to the family.
“To my regret, we are in a situation where there is nothing, absolutely nothing,” she added.
She criticized the police for their handling of the investigation.
“I don’t believe police are doing everything, it isn’t reasonable,” she said and appealed to Israel Police chief Kobi Shabtai to have the force redouble its efforts.
Klinerman’s father, Shmuel, told media, “It is hard to believe that Israel does not have enough means to do more.”
The couple appealed for private search and rescue teams to also join the hunt.
Klinerman’s parents have long said they believe their son was kidnapped.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court last Monday issued a gag order preventing the publication of any details from the ongoing police investigation, as well as the identity of the suspect.
Klinerman and his friends arrived at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on Mount Meron, where Klinerman reportedly wanted to seclude himself, asking his friends to continue their trip without him. He has not been seen since.
Following more than two months of dead ends, the Israel Police said two weeks ago it would establish a special task force to assist in the investigation.
At the same time, police were continuing to scan the area where Klinerman disappeared and have deployed intelligence and surveillance tools to try and determine his whereabouts.
