Bereaved Israeli mother to testify in US case Against Iran and Syria

Bereaved Israeli mother to testify in US case Against Iran and Syria

'Iran and Syria murdered my boy'

By Michael Ireland, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)

RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL (ANS, December 8, 2016) -- Two and a half years after the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenage boys, their case is set to appear before a federal judge in Washington D.C.

According to an article by Itamar Eichner, writing for www.YNETNews.com, Naftali's mother, Rachel Frenkel, will take the witness stand on Tuesday and detail for the court the events leading up to her son's murder, in addition to the murders of his two friends, Eyal Yifrach, Gilprote-Ad Shaer. Israel's response to the kidnapping and murders and its subsequent firing at Gaza eventually became Operation Protective Edge.

YNETNews says Frenkel will appear in court as part of a lawsuit filed through the US justice system against Iran and Syria, which accuses both countries of supporting acts of terrorism carried out by Hamas operatives. The plaintiffs are asking the court to order Syria and Iran to pay $340 million in damages.

YNETNews reports the lawsuit was made possible since Naftali was a US citizen. In her letter to the court, Frenkel said she is horrified at the thought of the fear that her son endured after he realized he had been kidnapped, and what he thought the moment he was shot.

In addition to Frenkel's letter and testimony in court, the federal proceedings will also include intel that reportedly proves that Iran and Syria directly funded the three boys' kidnapping, through a NIS 220,000 payment, laundered through a would-be charity organization called "Al-Nour," which operates in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli agent and former FBI agent will also testify in court.

YNETNews stated the plaintiffs and the witnesses they will call to the stand aim to detail exactly how the kidnapping was planned, how the funding the terrorists needed was raised, will include the first failed attempts to kidnap Israelis and ultimately the boys' kidnapping, murder and hiding of the bodies. The IDF's search efforts for the boys will also be described, up until their bodies were discovered and the murderers were found and killed, three months later.

YNETNews went on to report that, if she wins her case, Frenkel will not be the first to do so using an indirect legal system. Another such case was a lawsuit filed by six-year-old Shira Leibowitz, who won hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran after being injured by a Jihad terrorist in 2003. Shlomo Ben Haim, who was injured at age 19 in a suicide bombing attack in the settlement area of Gush Katif in 1997, also won hundreds of millions of dollars.

Frenkel is represented by Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center, which focuses on justice for terrorism victims. The center is headed by attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who stressed that the funding was crucial for the terrorists to execute their plan, and that it was supplied through an organization masquerading as a charitable entity. She stated that Iran and Syria are hotbeds for funding terrorism and that she and her team will continue to fight them in any way possible, “so they will learn that spilling Jewish blood comes with a price.”

Media requesting more information should contact: Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, 10 Hata'as St. Ramat Gan, 52512 Israel.

Israel Phone: 972-3-7514175; Fax: 972-3-7514174; US Phone: 212-591-0073.

Email: info@israellawcenter.org. Website: http://www.israellawcenter.org.

Photo captions: 1) Rachel Frenkel 2) Frenkel's son Naftali 3) Michael Ireland.

About the Writer: Michael Ireland is a volunteer internet journalist serving as Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, as well as an Ordained Minister who has served with ASSIST Ministries and written for ASSIST News Service since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia. Please consider helping Michael cover his expenses in bringing news of the Persecuted Church, by logging-on to: https://actintl.givingfuel.com/ireland-michael.

** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net). Please also tell your friends and colleagues that they can get a complimentary subscription to ANS by going to the website and signing up there.