The Commonality of Humanity, An Artist's Journey
Abraham “Avera” Mengistu, an Ethiopian-born Israeli civilian held captive by Hamas in Gaza since 2014
Born in Ethiopia in August 1986, Avera was five years old when he arrived in Israel with his parents and nine siblings.
The Mengistu family lived in a low-income, desperately underprivileged Ethiopian ghetto in the city of Ashkelon. The city is located about 12 miles north of the Gaza Strip.
According to civil rights activist Tal Harris, the Mengistu family belonged to the lowest, most neglected and poorest sector of Israeli society.
In 2011, with the untimely death of his oldest brother Masrashau, 25 year old Avera displayed signs of deep grief, anguish and mental health problems.
In January 2013, he voluntarily entered a mental health facility in Beer Sheva where he remained for 12 days.
And in March 2013, Avera was declared unfit to serve in the Israeli army and received a full exemption.
Employed in menial jobs and tasks, Avera was unable to hold down a job. He often asked friends and family for money and traveled alone, disappearing for days.
On September 7, 2014 Avera asked his mother Agurnesh for money. She said no.
Avera stormed out of the house carrying a knapsack.
It was the last time his mother Agurnesh or anyone else in his family has seen Avera.
Walking south along the seaside, Avera eventually arrived at a security check point between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military patrol were foolishly and irresponsibly racist. Without checking identification, thinking he was a non-Israeli, non-Jewish Sudanese refugee returning home to Gaza, the Israeli military patrol let Avera pass through.
Years of relentless lies, deceit and racism
Over the next 10 months between September 2014 and July 2015, Israeli officials under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu placed a gag order on the incident.
However, leaks of Avera’s abduction found their way into European social media and news outlets.
In July 2015, through the efforts of Haaretz, a well respected if not controversial, daily Israeli newspaper (printed and published online in Hebrew and English) the gag order was finally lifted.
Here are just five headlines through the years that hide the corruption, lies and deceit emanating from the Prime Minister’s Office under the Bibi Netanyahu regimes.
Seriously, the Jerusalem Post?
Racism continues to persist in Israel. It even permeates the well-established, often right-wing English language newspaper and online news service, the Jerusalem Post.
Below is a sub-headline from a May 2021 article that clearly labels Avera Mengistu as a mentally ill black boy. At the time, the Jerusalem Post’s editor-in-chief was Yaakov Katz, the journalist Sarah Chemla.
Comptroller uncovers the scandalous years of deception, fraudulent lies and lack of commitment
The Iranian supported, Gaza based Hamas terror organization is holding two living Israeli citizens: Ethiopian Jew, Avera Mengistu (2014) and and Israeli Bedouin, Hisham al-Sayed (2015).
Hamas is also in possession of the remains of two IDF soldiers: Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin. Both young men were killed during the 2014 Summer 50-days of “conflict.”
Since 2014 there have been two Bibi Coalition Appointed Negotiators for their return:
- Lior Lotan from 2014 through 2017
- Yaron Blum 2017 – 2022 (Blum resigned in October 2022)
In January 2023, State Comptroller, Matanyahu Englman released his investigative findings concerning the role of the Negotiator. The damning report was published in numerous Israeli news outlets including the Times of Israel (published online in English, Hebrew, French, Arabic and Persian).
The Times of Israel headline states: “Comptroller slams undefined role of Israeli negotiator for release of Gaza captives.” Comptroller Exposes Bibi’s Deceit
State Comptroller Englman’s report uncovered and proved the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) years of deception, fraudulent lies and lack of commitment concerning negotiations with Hamas for the release of Israel’s living captives and return of the two soldier’s remains.
Bibi’s coalitions never acted in good faith
Comptroller Englman revealed that both negotiators, Lior Lotan and Yaron Blum operated “over the years without the Prime Minister’s Office ever actually establishing the responsibilities, authority or any detailed framework of the role.”
- Bibi never implemented recommendations made by the 2012 Shamgar Commission, which set out to determine principles for prisoner releases
- Between 2014 and 2023 there has been only ONE security cabinet meeting which was held in June 2014 to discuss the recommendations
- There were no further discussions nor recommendations by the government, the [security] cabinet or any other committee of ministers regarding the Shamgar Committee’s recommendations
Equally as disturbing:
- Information the PMO held concerning the Negotiator’s work was not handled in an orderly fashion
- Negotiator Yaron Blum had ‘minimal’ information about his predecessor’s work
- There was no formal framework for the Negotiator’s connection with the families of Israeli captives
Meantime Yaron Blum, Bibi’s negotiator from 2017 – 2022 received a salary of NIS 50,000 (about US$14,000) per month.
Throughout these nine years there have been several major opportunities to work with Egypt who has negotiated truces between Israel and Hamas.
Specifically, there were two Bibi War of Diversion in the Spring of 2021 and the Spring of 2023 where Avera, Hisam and the remains of the two IDF soldiers could have been returned to Israel.
Instead, the scandal is swept under the Bibi Rug of Deception and Lies.
Epilogue
I chose to focus on Avera Mengistu this week when I ‘coincidently’ fell upon this sentence:
“Whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world, because we are created in the image of God.” Talmud Sanhedrin 4:1 (22A)
Too many of our rabbis, leaders and politicians have been seduced by greed, power and corruption and they’ve turned their backs on one of the most essential guiding lights of Judaic integrity.
to be continued….
I have not forgotten the two Ethiopian Israeli young men, Yehuda Biadga and Solomon Teka who were both shot and killed by Israeli police in 2019. I will return to their story in a future blog.
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