Missing soldier’s family accuses Israel of racial discrimination

More than 1,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv last night to demand the release of an Israeli soldier who is thought to be being held in the Gaza Strip as a prisoner of war.

Israel’s Walla news site said the demonstration was to mark the passage of 1,000 days since Avraham Mengistu’s capture.

According to the site, the protesters expressed disappointment that the Israeli government has ignored Mengistu’s case and accused it of racial discrimination against him because he is of Ethiopian heritage.

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Israeli media has recently published reports saying the Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, and Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have ignored Mengistu’s case while discussing the capture of other soldiers who are being held in Gaza during their meeting with US President Donald Trump in May.

Mengistu’s has called for widespread action to draw attention to his case and force the government to take action.

Expert on Israeli affairs, Nazir Majali, said:

The families of the captured soldiers feel that the policy of silence has led to a lack of interest from the Israeli government and that the government exploited their silence and continued to procrastinate.

He added that Israel is not interested in offering considerable compromise in any deal with Hamas.  “Hamas demands a large price not only for the deal, but for every piece of information on the soldiers’ status,” he added.