Israeli volunteer rescue and recovery organization ZAKA is weighing whether to return money it had collected for a “prisoner redemption” operation to save the life of young Israeli Ben Hassin, imprisoned in an Islamic country.
ZAKA said that, as per request of the Foreign Ministry, with whom the organization is working in constant cooperation, “the ZAKA organization, on whose banner is emblazoned ‘Saving those who can be saved, honoring those who cannot,’ took upon itself the important mitzvah of saving a life, and with pure intention undertook a speedy public campaign to raise the demanded funds of 120,000 dollars.”
“The moment the counter indicated that we had reached our target, we stopped the campaign and notified involved authorities that we had done so, but two weeks since, we have not successfully located a responsible legal authority ready to receive the money and prove that there is a ransom deal under which the youth will be freed in exchange for the money. And this, in addition to other question that arose,” a ZAKA spokesperson said.
At the moment, the organization says that the collected money is being held in a trust by a lawyer in the US who knows the details of the situation and has been involved with the incident for months - and is even in constant contact with officials from the Islamic country.
“As a responsible public organization, [so as not to arouse any suspicions], if, within two days a responsible legal authority who will mediate the ransom transaction is not found, the lawyer entrusted with the money will instruct the clearing company to return the money to donors,” the ZAKA spokesperson said.