Rachel Fraenkel, the mother of Naftali Fraenkel, the high schooler who was kidnapped Thursday night along with fellow students Gil-ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach, spoke with reporters on Sunday. (Video embedded below.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames the kidnapping on Hamas.
The JTA reported on her remarks:
“Naftali, Mom and Dad and your siblings love you to no end. Know that Israel is turning the world upside down to bring you home.” …
“We are optimistic, with God’s help, He will see the combined effort of the prayers and solidarity, and we will embrace Naftali, Eyal and Gilad here,” Fraenkel said. …
“We are grateful to every soldier in the field, Knesset member, parents of soldiers and the media for bringing our story to the world,” she said, adding that the family has been in constant touch with the Israeli army, police, the Shin Bet security service and government representatives.”
Speaking for her husband and children, Fraenkel thanked friends, family and neighbors for the help that has been extended to Naftali’s immediate family, and credited the American embassy with being “very supportive.”
Fraenkel and Shaer attended Yeshivat Mekor Chaim, which was founded by Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, a renowned scholar. Steinzaltz, a 1988 recipient of the Israel Prize, “called on Jews to recite psalms and pray for their safe return,” and called the kidnapping “a shocking, painful and frightening event.”
A profile of the three teens in Israel Hayom described Fraenkel:
Naftali, who holds American citizenship, has been a student at Makor Chaim for three years and is a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth movement. He is described as loving sports, “a nice, quiet kid.” His father is a lawyer and his mother is a teacher. Residents of Nof Ayalon say that Naftali’s absence was discovered in the middle of the night on Thursday. They thought he must have slept at a friend’s house and sent text messages to all his friends’ families. Only after everyone replied that Naftali wasn’t there … did they begin to worry and appeal to security officials.
[Photo: Arutz Sheva TV / YouTube ]