Group says it was exploited to raise ransom cash for captive Israeli

The ZAKA Search and Rescue organization Thursday cast doubts on the reliability of the family of an Israeli-Canadian held captive in an Arab state, saying the prisoner’s family had been unhelpful in providing suitable information to transfer $120,000 raised from the public to buy the prisoner’s freedom.

ZAKA international director David Rose said his organization had been exploited in launching a public campaign to raise money to save 21-year-old Ben Hassin, who is facing a 25-year prison sentence or the death penalty for killing a cab driver in 2015.

He also cast doubts on claims that Hassin was being tortured in prison, saying a representative had visited the prison and reported him to be in fine health.

Hassin has been imprisoned since June 2015 in an Arab state with which Israel has no diplomatic relations, after he allegedly killed a cab driver who threatened to kill him upon discovering that he was Jewish.

The name of the state, which he had traveled to in order to visit his grandparents and then stayed on in to fight the Islamic State according to his family, is being kept under gag order in Israel.

“It pains us that that ZAKA’s reputation and willingness to help in humanitarian issues has been exploited,” Rose said. “Nonetheless, we continue to monitor the situation through other credible channels on the ground and await the relevant information. The matter should be resolved in the coming weeks.”

Rose stressed that ZAKA would not release the money unless its own attorneys are satisfied that it will be used to redeem Hassin.

“If we are not 100% satisfied, then all the monies currently held in escrow will be returned to the donors,” he said. “This due diligence is essential for an organization that insists on financial transparency.”

In response, Assaf Tal, a spokesperson for Ilan Hassin, told The Times of Israel that the family has not misled ZAKA in any way.

“We’ve heard these allegations over and over again,” he said. “We are sorry that ZAKA is telling everyone in the media that they were misled by the family. The family still waiting for Ben to come home.”

Tal said that the family’s version was true.

“We showed the media that we have papers which prove the story and prove the case in the state where he is being jailed,” he said. “We don’t know why ZAKA still continues to say that the family is cheating everyone.”

When asked about ZAKA’s claim that Ben was in fine health, Tal said he had heard the opposite from Ilan Hassin.

The family “doesn’t know who visited him,” he said. “His father says that Ben is in bad shape. The conditions are inhumane and his life is in danger.”

Last month, at the request of the family and the Foreign Ministry, ZAKA agreed to provide a fund-raising platform for raising a demanded ransom after having carefully checked into Hassin’s plight.

ZAKA launched a crowdfunding effort on The Chesed Fund website to rescue Hassin, a day after his father and Likud minister Ayoub Kara both implored the public to donate money to save his life.

They had said Ben Hassin’s verdict was imminent, but could be staved off if the family of the cab driver was given $120,000 in blood money.

Donations from around the world raised the money in a day and ZAKA then sought to use the money to win Hassin’s freedom.

“Since that time, the donated money has been held in escrow, until the ZAKA attorneys are satisfied that the money will be transferred through legal channels and reach its intended target,” Rose explained.

However, ZAKA has been unable to get appropriate information from the Hassin family to transfer the money, he explained.

“Despite the alleged urgency of the situation, after more than two weeks, the Hassin family has yet to answer the requests of the ZAKA attorneys, who are ready and willing to transfer the money – but only to an escrow account set up for the agreed purposes, and with proper legal documentation to ensure the money reaches its target. Instead, the family has only provided details of private bank accounts, or private organizations.”

Rose said that despite alleged claims by Hassin’s father to the contrary, ZAKA has been in contact with “reputable bodies” in the Islamic country where the prisoner is being held for the purpose of seeing him freed, or at least given a lighter sentence.

According to Rose, a visit was made to see Hassin and he is reportedly in good health, contradicting a claim by Ilan Hassin that his son had been tortured. In a phone recording played on TV by his father, Ben Hassin himself also said he was tortured. Rose did not detail when the visit happened or who it was that managed to see the captive.

A spokesperson for Kara told The Times of Israel that since the money for the ransom had been raised it was now a matter between ZAKA and the Hassin family attorneys. While Kara is still working to secure Hassin’s release he is not involved in the transfer of the ransom money.

The case had been kept under wraps by the IDF Military Censor until late last month, when portions were allowed for publication to allow Hassin’s father to appeal for help.

Hassin senior said that he promised the taxi driver’s family that the “sulha” peacemaking payment would be delivered by January 29 — the day of Ben Hassin’s sentencing, and that this could facilitate his son’s release.

The sentencing date appears to have since been pushed off.

As the case was revealed last month, Ilan Hassin appeared on Israeli television, pleading for help to raise the cash to free his son.

“I don’t have that money,” he said. “Help me.”

He also played a recording of his son, speaking by phone to him from prison in English, in which he said he had been tortured. The younger Hassin is heard saying he had been beaten, had had his fingernails pulled out, and had been suspended from a ceiling.

Ilan Hassin is Israeli. Ben Hassin’s mother has reportedly lived in Canada for 30 years.