JERUSALEM—Israeli security forces were joined by units of the Israel Defense Forces as the search for three yeshivah high school students entered its third day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Saturday night that the teenagers “were kidnapped by a terrorist organization.”
The three students were identified as Gilad Shaar, 16, from the settlement of Talmon; Naftali Frenkel, also 16, from Nof Ayalon near Modi’in, who holds dual Israeli and American citizenship; and Eyal Yifrach, 19, from Elad near Petach Tikvah.
“Our boys were kidnapped by a terrorist organization. There is no doubt about that,” said Netanyahu in a statement released to the press after meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.
“We are in the midst of a widespread operation to locate and bring back the three young yeshivah students. I spoke with their parents, and I told them that we are doing everything possible and more to bring back their boys, who are also our boys,” said the prime minister.
Simulteaneous prayer services were held Sunday morning at more than 700 religious schools throughout Israel. The largest was held at Mekor Chaim High School Yeshiva in Gush Etzion, where prayers were led by Chief Askhenzanic Rabbi Dovid Lau.
At the same time, there has been a worldwide call for acts of kindness to be performed in the merit of the missing teenagers. Chabad.org has set up a special web page where readers can “pledge a mitzvah” on their behalf.
Naftali Frankel and Gilad Shaar are students at Mekor Chaim, which is presided over by Rabbi Adin (Even-Israel) Steinsaltz. Eyal Yifrach is enrolled at Shavei Hebron Yeshiva in Hebron. Additional prayer services are being held wordwide, along with countless private prayers for the safe return of Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah; Gilad Michael ben Bat Galim; and Eyal ben Iris Teshura.
Rabbi Steinsaltz Issues Statement on the Kidnapping
As prayer services were being conducted worldwide, Rabbi Steinsaltz issued the following statement:
“The kidnapping of our students is a shocking, painful and frightening event. In a time and place that had seemed to us quiet and serene, we have been thrown into an event that we can do nothing to resolve,” he said.
“Perhaps we are better off than in past times, when we were totally unable even to attempt rescue and deliverance. We are grateful to the Israel Defense Forces for all their efforts.
“Still we, the families, the friends and the teachers of the kidnapped boys are standing with “idle hands” (Ecclesiastes 10:18.) All we have left now is to turn to our Father in Heaven and plead. We do not despair because we doubt our Heavenly Father. Rather we feel helpless because, “G‑d is in Heaven and you are upon earth” (Ecclesiastes 5:1).
“Thus, we can never know the extent our pleas and cries reach Heaven—and also have some effect here, on earth. What we can do—and this has been the Jewish way from time immemorial—is to add more holiness and learn more Torah. If we can, each of us should take upon ourselves something additional, no matter how small, especially and explicitly devoted for the sake and well-being of the missing boys.
“Furthermore, we Jews have always been accustomed to reciting the psalms, and we certainly ought to do more of this, especially two psalms that seem to me most relevant: Psalms 142 and 143, chapters that literally deal with our plight. We pray also for the safety of those who are working toward their rescue.
“May it be G‑d’s will that in their merit, and for the merit of their suffering, together with our prayers and good deeds, we shall soon see our boys returned to us, G‑d willing, safe and sound,” he concluded.
In calling for prayers and additional acts of kindness soon after the boys were missing, Rabbi Steinsaltz was joined by the Chief Rabbis of Israel, who issued a joint statement calling on members of the public to recite Psalm 121 and pray for the safety of the boys. The rabbinate had also called on all Jewish women to light Shabbat candles and say prayers in merit of the missing youths.
They were last seen at a hitchhiking spot near Hebron on Thursday night. The GPS signals from all three cell phones stopped working at the same time, lending greater credence to the probability that they were abducted. An ongoing investigation is also continuing into a burned-out car that may be linked to the missing boys.
Security forces have been out en mass—using drones, roadblocks, house searches and armored vehicles—combing the Hebron and Bethlehem areas for clues.
Gantz said he instructed the army to raise their level of alert and prepare for any possible scenario and dispatched elite IDF commando units to assist in the search.
“The goal is to figure out what happened before they disappeared, to investigate our way backwards. So far, we haven’t found any items belonging to them out on the field,” a senior army source told Ynet News on Friday.
He added that the search was now focusing on the intelligence front, and that the IDF, police and Shin Bet security agency were holding a situation evaluation every few hours.
‘Never Made It Home’
A relative of one of the missing teens reportedly said the families received an update from the IDF and police about the disappearance.
“He just disappeared, never made it home,” the relative said. “His parents are worried, praying, hoping for the best. We’re all praying this incident ends on the good side.”
A spokesman for a settlement in which one of the missing teens resides said that during the night, when the son failed to return home and didn’t answer his phone, his father reported him missing to the police. At the same time, family members were searching for the teen at his friends’ houses.
“At 8 a.m., we received texts. We were asked if we knew where the boy was, and we were asked to wake up our children to see if he’s staying over at one of the homes,” the spokesman said.
At first, the family members thought the teen had just forgotten his keys and went to sleep at a friend’s house, as he had done before.
“As soon as we realized he was nowhere to be found, the atmosphere in the settlement became very grave. People were hiding in their homes ... we opened an operations room to provide residents with information, and organized a mass prayer and read from the Book of Psalms so this incident ends on a good side,” the spokesman continued.
The disappearance is all the more ominous in light of recent Shin Bet discoveries of several attempts by terror cells to kidnap Israeli soldiers or civilians to be used as bargaining chips in an effort to secure the release of Palestinian terrorists.
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