Ahmad al-Aasem
Israel fears missing bedouin may have joined ISIS
Father of Ahmad al-Aasem who recently went missing in Turkey accuses Israel of indifference to his whereabouts 'because he's an Arab'; denies any chance his son crossed into Syria; 'He wouldn’t move a meter without informing us.'
Israel believes that a 19-year-old Israeli from the Bedouin community of Tel Sheva in the southern region, who was on a family trip in Istanbul and has been missing since Wednesday, may have joined ISIS.
The family of Ahmad al-Aasem, who went missing, denies the possibility that their son joined the Islamic terror group, insisting that Israel’s efforts to locate him would be conducted with more vigor if he was Jewish.
Al-Aasem’s father Abdullah and close family relatives traveled to Turkey to participate in the search efforts and filed a missing persons report with local police.
Asked whether there was any chance that al-Aasem had crossed into Syria in order to join one of the rebel movements, his father rejected the possibility out of hand.
“We have already checked this. We traveled to the borders and asked there and we arrived at the conclusion that (he didn’t). My son wasn’t prepared to cross into Syria. He always let us know every step he intended to take and absolutely respects us,” Abdullah responded.
Ahmad al-Aasem
“He wouldn’t move a meter without informing us which is why we are so worried. We are afraid of hearing bad news.”
The Istanbul consulate is in contact with both his family and local authorities, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“My son traveled last Sunday to Turkey with two close family relatives. On Wednesday they decided to go out and my son told them he wasn’t interested in going anywhere because he wanted to rest at the hotel,” Abdullah claimed.
“After a few hours he left and bought presents for his siblings and returned to the hotel. The same day he left again and since then has been missing and no contact has been established with him since.
“We are now in Istanbul. We have gone around many places here in order to find him but we haven’t had any success. We don’t know where he is and we are waiting for him to speak to us, at least to tell us he is safe and healthy so we can relax.”
The father went on to express his disappointment in Israel from what he claimed to be an indifference to the family’s plight.
“I am surprised that the State of Israel is almost not interested in what we are going through,” he lamented. “If the missing person was Jewish they would make efforts until they discovered where he was, but because he is an Arab, they are all being quiet about it and there is no one who is putting in efforts to help us."
Hoping that his son was listening, Abdullah made a desperate plea that he establish contact with his family.
“Our mental state is extremely difficult. We can’t relax as long as there is no progress.”
