PM envoy on hostages offered to resign after public outcry
Friends of Lior Lotan say he offered to step aside as negotiator after threats he made to family of Israeli missing in Gaza, Avraham Mangisto, drew harsh criticism.
Lior Lotan, the prime minister's envoy on hostages and missing persons, has offered to resign his post after threats he made to the family of Abera Mengistu, an Israeli who has gone missing in the Gaza Strip, caused a public outcry last week.
One of his close friends said that Lotan turned to a senior government official, telling him, "if I'm not up to your standards, I won't stay on."
Lotan was recorded last week talking to Mengistu's family, telling them "Whoever connects Abera with the story between the Ethiopian community and the State of Israel will leave him in Gaza for another year," referring to the Israeli Ethiopians' recent protests.
Lotan also warned the family against documenting the meeting saying, "This is unacceptable. Meetings with me don't get documented." Mengistu's brother can be heard in the recording trying to interject, but Lotan stopped him, saying, "Don't get into these things with me please, I'm an older man than you. Decide what you want - to work together or make a scene and manipulate us."
Lotan's friends said that he told the government official that he felt like he still had a lot to offer. "If I'm okay, then we had a mishap, and I need to move forward. I'll be done only when the mission is complete."
On Friday morning, after the recording was aired on Channel 10 the previous night, raising ire, the Prime Minister's Office called the Mengistu family, inviting them for a meeting to clear the air and apologize.
Because Mengistu's mother did not feel well, both Lotan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the family's home in Ashkelon. The two apologized, while the family clarified that they were not responsible for the conversation's recording being leaked to the press.
"The good relationship we created during the past months will continue and we will work together until Abera returns home," said Lotan. "I will continue to work voluntarily to return our captured and missing soldiers and civilians."
"It's good that Lior spoke with the family members and apologized to them," said the prime minister. "Lior works day and night voluntarily to return our missing soldiers and civilians."
Netanyahu updated the family about the efforts to bring their son home. "We know he's being held by Hamas and they're responsible for him," he said.
The prime minister also offered the family to meet with the soldiers who saw Abera for the last time before he crossed into Gaza.
"We know it'll take a long time, but we feel that the prime minister means what he says. We hope he makes good on his promise and brings our son back," the family said after the meeting.
Abera Mengistu, 29 years old from Ashkelon, was seen entering Gaza out of his own volition through the Zikim beach in the early hours of September 8, 2014, and has not been seen since.
While the prime minister and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon hold Hamas responsible for his well-being, the Gaza terror group says they didn't have Mengistu, as they released him shortly after capturing him when they realized he wasn't a soldier.
Matan Tzuri, Elior Levy and Yuval Karni contributed to this report.
