Lovesick Israeli man apologizes for faking West Bank kidnapping
Court extends remand of Niv Asraf, 22, and his friend after incident sparked massive million-shekel manhunt in Hebron area
The Israeli man who sparked a massive, million-shekel search in the West Bank Thursday after he fabricated his own kidnapping in an effort to win back an ex-girlfriend, apologized for the incident that had the whole country fearing for his life.
The hoax report, centering on the same area of the West Bank where three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered less than a year ago, sent hundreds of soldiers, police and agents of the Shin Bet security agency hammering on the doors of frightened Palestinian villagers as they searched house to house in the Hebron district.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Friday extended the remand of Niv Asraf, 22 from Beersheba, and his friend Eran Nagauker, who played a role in the incident, by five days.
Both men are accused of giving false evidence, breach of public order and obstruction a police officer in the performance of his duty.
The lawyer representing Asraf said his client felt remorse for what he had done.
“Niv is sorry for what happened, his family is also sorry. The whole country held its breath [for him],” Asraf’s lawyer Moti Yosef told Channel 2 Friday.
The lawyer representing Nagauker said his client felt his friend was in a poor emotional state following a recent break-up and that he cooperated with the falsified kidnapping out of fear that Asraf would try to harm himself otherwise.
“After a failed love affair, they fabricated this whole thing to make the ex-girlfriend worry. They made a mistake. They expressed remorse and they understand the gravity of the situation,” said Itay Yitzhak.
Asraf was found safe and sound late Thursday near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, outside Hebron, with a sleeping bag and some canned food. Police said the event was being considered as a “prank” and a massive “waste of resources.”
The search, which took several hours, cost the state several million shekels, police said. Helicopters were deployed, war rooms set up and massive forces mobilized for the search.
“We apologize to all those who helped in the search,” Asraf’s father told the Israeli media on Friday. “I don’t know what’s happening with him. We’re happy he’s back, but we’re worried about his emotional state,” the father said.
“There is a lot to be angry about this morning,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz told Army Radio Friday morning. “Lots of people who need to be carrying out other security missions left their assignments and switched to this one. Hundreds of soldiers, intelligence people, air force personnel, it really was a concerted effort involving many work hours of soldiers, commanders and Shin Bet personnel.”
The Palestinian Authority also assisted with the search, Channel 1 television news reported.
After Asraf was found Thursday night, the IDF said that security forces would return to their routine deployments.
Nagauker had called police just after 4 p.m. and reported that Asraf had entered the Palestinian village of Beit Anun and hadn’t returned.
The village became the focal point of the Israeli search, with troops flooded into the area searching homes and fields. The army set up roadblocks on Route 60, the main north-south artery connecting Jerusalem and Hebron, and Route 35.
According to the account given by Nagauker, the two men got a flat tire while driving on the road between Kiryat Arba and Beit Anun.
Asraf went to get tools to fix the flat from the nearby Arab village and disappeared, he said.
Suspicions were raised after the car was found to have no flat tire and police questioned why the two had stopped where they did. The car was stopped precisely at the bottom of a path leading into the village.
A Channel 2 report Thursday said that Nagauker, a former Border Policeman who had served in the area, had given “at least three versions” of what had happened, and was not considered credible.
It made no sense for Asraf to enter a potentially hostile Palestinian village when the entrance to Kiryat Arba was only 300 meters away from the spot where their car was stopped, the report added.
Asraf was said to be an employee of the Jewish National Fund, who had started a new job on Wednesday morning.
Last June, Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel were kidnapped by a Hamas cell at a junction in the Etzion Bloc, north of Wednesday’s incident, and subsequently found murdered. The incident led to a drastic upsurge in tension between Israel and Hamas, ultimately leading to the 50-day Operation Protective Edge conflict last summer.
AFP contributed to this report.
