Ayelet Samerano alleged during a press conference Monday that a Hamas operative who moonlighted as a UN worker kidnapped her son’s lifeless body during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Samerano called repeatedly in her speech for the dismantling of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) because of how this organization was infiltrated by terrorists. (RELATED: UN Official Martin Griffiths Says ‘Hamas Is Not A Terrorist Group.’ Israel Responds)
“You are asking me why UNRWA needs to be replaced? An UNRWA worker kidnapped my son. A social worker for a so-called humanitarian organization kidnapped my son. How can someone working for an organization that claims to do good in this world do something so cruel and inhumane?” she asked during the press conference.
She then turned to the particulars of the kidnapping of her 21-year-old son Yonatan and asked “How can the UN pay this man who dragged my son’s limp body on the ground, and then picked him up if he was a prize back to Gaza?”
A video of the kidnapping was played at about the 3-minute, 40-second mark of her speech.
Powerful speech from Ayelet Samerano, whose son Yonatan’s lifeless body was kidnapped to Gaza by an @UNRWA social worker:
“You are asking me why UNRWA needs to be replaced?
An UNRWA worker kidnapped my son.
A social worker for a so-called humanitarian organization kidnapped my… pic.twitter.com/KGvQpy9nLB
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) February 26, 2024
The video, taken on Oct. 7, shows two men getting out of a white van. According to the video, one of those men was Faisal Ali Musalam Naami, who could be seen dragging what appears to be a lifeless corpse garbed in civilian clothing from the street into the white van. Both men could be seen in the video driving off in the white van.
Naami is alleged by Israeli authorities to be a member of Hamas and a social worker for UNRWA. According to Israeli authorities, this man was responsible for “kidnapping a soldier from Beeri” on Oct. 7 and for arranging weapons and truck transfers.
“Does the UN hold my son? Do you know where he is? Bring him back to me,” Samerano said during the press conference. Samerano in her speech mentioned that her son was unarmed at the time of the incident and that “his only weapons were his smile, happiness and charm.”
Israel has alleged that several UNRWA employees were members of terrorist organizations and partook in the Oct. 7 massacre that left 1,200 dead and took over 200 people captive.