French Ambassador in Israel Jacque Huntizenger walked out in anger last night from a meeting with parents of three missing soldiers - but finally returned after 45 minutes of "negotiations."
The parents of soldiers Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Souad - who were abducted and apparently murdered by Hizbullah two years ago while patrolling Israel's northern border, yet whose bodies have not been returned - came to the French Embassy to hear a report on French President Jacques Chirac's recent visit with Lebanese and Syrian leaders. One of the parents, Chaim Avraham, told Arutz-7 what happened:
"I said, 'Mr. Ambassador, you have new friends now in Beirut, maybe you will ask them what's with our sons.' He sat down, turned to me and said, 'We have no new friends.' So I continued and said, 'Your president sat with [Hizbullah leader] Nasrallah in the Francophile Convention in Beirut, so I feel that it would be proper for you to tell us if he asked him about our sons.' He said, 'If you don't stop, I'll leave the room.' I said, 'Mr. Ambassador, there is no need to get angry, we just want answers.' He then banged on the table very hard and said, 'This meeting is over.'"
The parents did not leave, however, insisting that they had waited six weeks for this meeting and should not be rewarded by getting abusively thrown out. Finally, after 45 minutes of passing messages back and forth, the ambassador returned and the meeting continued nicely. Huntizenger told them that Chirac said he had brought up the issue with the Syrians and Lebanese, but that they had gotten angry and refused to answer.
"The ambassador didn't give me anything new," Chaim Avraham said afterwards, "but it's important to remind these world leaders of their hypocrisy."
The parents of soldiers Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Souad - who were abducted and apparently murdered by Hizbullah two years ago while patrolling Israel's northern border, yet whose bodies have not been returned - came to the French Embassy to hear a report on French President Jacques Chirac's recent visit with Lebanese and Syrian leaders. One of the parents, Chaim Avraham, told Arutz-7 what happened:
"I said, 'Mr. Ambassador, you have new friends now in Beirut, maybe you will ask them what's with our sons.' He sat down, turned to me and said, 'We have no new friends.' So I continued and said, 'Your president sat with [Hizbullah leader] Nasrallah in the Francophile Convention in Beirut, so I feel that it would be proper for you to tell us if he asked him about our sons.' He said, 'If you don't stop, I'll leave the room.' I said, 'Mr. Ambassador, there is no need to get angry, we just want answers.' He then banged on the table very hard and said, 'This meeting is over.'"
The parents did not leave, however, insisting that they had waited six weeks for this meeting and should not be rewarded by getting abusively thrown out. Finally, after 45 minutes of passing messages back and forth, the ambassador returned and the meeting continued nicely. Huntizenger told them that Chirac said he had brought up the issue with the Syrians and Lebanese, but that they had gotten angry and refused to answer.
"The ambassador didn't give me anything new," Chaim Avraham said afterwards, "but it's important to remind these world leaders of their hypocrisy."