Copyright 2002 Ha'aretz
Ha'aretz
October 3, 2002
HEADLINE: Families of MIAs get hearing in Congress
BYLINE: Daniel Sobelman
Relatives of four Israelis kidnapped by Hezbollah in Lebanon two
years ago met four congressmen and a senior State Department
official in Washington yesterday.
The hearing was the first for the relatives of missing soldiers Adi
Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Souad, and abducted businessman
Elchanan Tannenbaum. The congressmen in attendance were Benjamin
Gilman, Darrell Issa, Eliot Engel and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
The legislators were joined by David Satterfield, the Deputy
Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near East Affairs, who formerly
served as ambassador to Lebanon.
Keren Tannenbaum, the daughter of the kidnapped businessman, told
Ha'aretz that the meeting's aim was to bring the issue on the
American agenda to a higher level. She, like Haim Avraham, the
father of Benny Avraham, also expressed support for allowing
Lebanese families to visit prisoners held in Israel.