From ‘Does the UN hold my son,’ asks mother after footage shows UNRWA worker dragging son into jeep on Oct. 7
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum holds press conference to show a video of an UNRWA worker, Faisal Ali Musalam Naami, driving a white UN jeep, and dragging the body of Jonathan Samerano, killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, into the jeep to Gaza.
“Does the UN hold my son?” asks Ayelet Samerano, Jonathan’s mother. “Do they know where he is? Bring him back to me — are there any other hostages held by UN employees? Even as we’re speaking right now? Where is my son?”
Samerano was at the Nova desert rave on October 7 and had escaped to Kibbutz Be’eri when he was killed and then his body taken hostage.
Naami is implicated in the kidnapping of Samerano, says Shelly Aviv Yeini, head of the forum’s legal team.
“Hostage-taking is a war crime,” says Yeini, adding that the forum demands a comprehensive investigation into the allegations.
Daniel Shek, head of diplomacy at the forum, says that in his 30-year diplomatic career, he has seen UNRWA “do amazing humanitarian things,” but there have always been issues of misconduct in the UN organization.
“One video like this will erase all the good you’ve done,” says Shek, speaking of UNRWA, “and should erase all the good you’ve done.”
Shek adds that it’s not the role of the forum to inspect the accounts of UNRWA and talk about their corruption and management, but says the agency should “clean your house or move out.”
“Those are the two options,” Shek continues. “I cannot believe that people like this man who kidnapped Yonatan — and we know there are others. I cannot imagine there weren’t any red flags before he did something like that,” he says.
