Hamas has been planning for the abduction of more Israelis for years, the Israeli Embassy in New Zealand revealed Friday - and even released several "kidnappers' handbooks" published by Hamas which encourage future abductions.
Scoop IndependentNews first reported Friday the full contents of a press release from the embassy, detailing the documents behind the abduction.
According to the release, several documents provided operational instructions to kidnap Israeli soldiers, in directives published as far back as 2002.
The two most recent and extensive documents include the 18-page The Kidnapper’s Handbook, a booklet detailing the combat doctrine of abductions distributed to Hamas's "military wing" the Al-Qassam Brigades in 2013; and the 16-page An Inside Perspective of the Resistance, a booklet which was written by convicted terrorist Muhammad Arman from within Israeli prison and distributed en masse from the Hamas-run Palestine Information Center in 2010.
Between the two booklets, the following guidelines are given:
1. The kidnappers themselves should be Hamas "sleeper cell" terrorists, who are raised away from "collaborators" (a possible reference to Fatah) in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and then conduct the abduction of their own accord. They should also learn how to speak Hebrew "fluently" to dupe potential captives.
2. The abductees - Israeli soldiers - should be "physically weak." Arman's handbook adds that an "ideal candidate" is an Ashkenazic Jew, a father, who is married and whose own parents are still living.
3. Kidnappers should dispose of the vehicle used for the kidnapping as soon as possible.
4. The abductees should be kept in the PA, in an underground hideout, either far away from the civilian population or in plain sight, in the homes of Palestinian Arabs unsuspected of terrorism and not associated with "collaborators" with Israel. The terrorists emphasize here that the captives can be kept "for years" with proper logistical planning and discretion this way.
Some of the information on the abduction of yeshiva students Naftali Frenkel (16), Gilad Sha'ar (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19) parallel these guidelines, despite the fact that the teens were high school students - not soldiers.
Both suspects, Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha, were Hamas terrorists active in the Palestinian Authority (PA), who each spent a significant amount of time in Israeli jails and could have become fluent in Hebrew during that time.
Very early reports on the kidnapping also indicated a connection between the abduction and a burnt vehicle found somewhere near the southern Palestinian Arab settlements near Hevron.
It should be noted, as well, that the IDF uncovered a network of underground terror tunnels in the Hevron area last week. Several were hidden "in plain sight" - behind normal furniture and appliances in typical Palestinian Arab homes.
Despite the three being unarmed students, Hamas officials have referred to them publicly as "soldiers" on numerous occasions.