Bring My Brother Home

O n the table in Ilan Mengistu’s room at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington there’s a stack of flyers detailing the story of his brother Abera. This is the family’s first visit to the United States and the first time these flyers are appearing in English. In September 2014 Abera (short for Avraham) Mengistu a young Israeli of Ethiopian origin who is not emotionally stable crossed the border from Israel into the Gaza Strip. Since then he has been held hostage by Hamas.

No significant movement has been made toward releasing Abera from captivity. A representative of the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him Abera hasn’t been permitted to call home and his family is frantic with worry and longing. Now they are meeting with senior administration officials in the US to advance the case for his release. In Congress they met with the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce as well as Congressmen Ted Deutch and Brad Sherman.

In addition they met at the White House with Jason Greenblatt the president’s special representative for international negotiations. “This was our second meeting with him and it was a very encouraging one ” Ilan Mengistu told me at the hotel where the family is staying. “He updated us that he is making every effort to help Abera and that he would try and solicit help from others who could be partners to saving a life here. We got the sense that everyone understands the importance of this issue and that they intend to get the administration involved. They understand that there is a civilian with emotional issues who mistakenly crossed the border and that it’s important to help save him.”

The family’s next stop is the UN headquarters in New York where they plan to emphasize the human rights aspect of the case rather than its political undertones.