UN officials admitted yesterday that DNA samples taken from bloodstained garments have been traced to only two of the three Israeli soldiers who were abducted and then apparently murdered by Hizbullah in October, 2000. The UN report identified blood samples from Sergeant Adi Avitan and Staff-Sergeant Binyamin Avraham. No samples from Staff-Sergeant Omar Souad were found, apparently because he was taken away from the scene in a second vehicle from which no bloodstains were gathered.
Yaakov Avitan, the father of Adi, expressed sharp criticism of the United Nations saying that obtaining information about his son’s abduction was like pulling teeth. He explained that for months, UN officials denied the existence of the videotape of the abduction which UNIFIL filmed. Only when the government took a firmer position was a tape \"discovered.\" The UN later acknowledged that a second tape existed as well. Avitan stated with certainty there was still additional information at the UN’s disposal that would clear up the mysteries surrounding the abduction and apparent murders of the three from Israel’s northern border.
Yaakov Avitan, the father of Adi, expressed sharp criticism of the United Nations saying that obtaining information about his son’s abduction was like pulling teeth. He explained that for months, UN officials denied the existence of the videotape of the abduction which UNIFIL filmed. Only when the government took a firmer position was a tape \"discovered.\" The UN later acknowledged that a second tape existed as well. Avitan stated with certainty there was still additional information at the UN’s disposal that would clear up the mysteries surrounding the abduction and apparent murders of the three from Israel’s northern border.