THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
inDri n
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TO ALL OUR
MILY AND FRIENDS
SI
A- SHIRLEY RICER &
TAft.v
Kidnapping Shocked a Nation
By SHIMON
BEN-NOACH
For 22 days in June Is-
raelis waited, hoped and
We wish our tar. ;" v and friends a
very healthy, happy et,-Drosperous
New Year
MR. and MRS. BENJAMIN NAGEL & rwity
iwZrizn
"TIM natr5'
MR. and MRS. WILLIAM WEISBERGER & FAMILY
wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year
SPITZ FAMILY ROBINSON
Wishes Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
BERNARD and IRENE SCHLUSSEL
& FAMILY
wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace
Wishing all our friends
and relatives a happy and
healthy New Year
I:Shana IWO
Wishing all our friends and
relatives a year of health
and happiness
HENRY and
MALA DORFMAN
prayed that an eight-year-
old boy from Savyon, Oron
Yarden, would be returned
safely to his parents. It was
the first-ever kidnapping-
for-money in Israel and the
crime created what seemed
an unparalleled climate of
concern and anxiety.
Oron disappeared from
the shopping center in the
well-to-do Tel Aviv suburb
of Savyon on June 8. Shortly
afterwards, the boy's father,
-a -qs Yarden, the head of
an 1.11 `-rance agency, re-
ceived a Ph`-, e. call from the
kidnapper det-,, n d ing a
ransom of IS 21.x_000
($40,000). A few days late.,
on the advice of the police —
who had planned to ambush
the kidnapper — he left the
money as instructed in an
oil drum by the side of a des-
erted road.
Though surrounded, the
kidnapper managed to es-
cape with the money and
without leaving the boy.
It was at this point that
the police cancelled an order
imposing secrecy on the in-
vestigation and the crime
was first revealed to the
public. The nation was
stunned. Thousands of
police, soldiers and volun-
teers participated in a
nationwide search. It bore
no fruit. A special police
search headquarters was
set up near the scene of the
crime where National
Police Commissioner Herzl
Shafir regularly visited to
supervise proceedings.
After a week, 12 people
had been arrested but all
were later to be released.
Thousands of false
alarms were conveyed to
the police.
Weeks went by and hope
dwindled. Not only was
there no sign of the child but
the police, now coming
under fire for their handling
of the affair, had no harder
clue to work on than the re-
corded voice of the kidnap-
per when he had telephoned
his ransom demand.
The boy's parents, Amos
and Pnina, weary with
worry, kept a brave face and
expressed their confidence
that the police would return
their son safely to them. By
a bizarre coincidence, Amos
had also been kidnapped as
an eight-year-old, by Be-
douins in the Jordanian
town of Zarka, and he had
survived his ordeal un-
scathed.
On the morning of June
27, 33-year-old Zvi Gur
entered Bank Hapoalim in
Rehovot and deposited IS
1,150 into an account he had
opened nine days earlier.
An alert clerk was amazed
to find that the numbers on
the notes matched with the
police 'black list.'
The police tracked the
man to Natanya where
they arrested him that af-
ternoon. After three
days' interrogation, Gur
finally broke down and
confessed what everyone
already feared. He had
not only kidnapped the
boy but murdered him by
mistake, in his words,
when trying to silence his
cries. The boy died be-
fore the ransom was paid.
On June 30, Oron Yar-
den's decomposed body
was dug out of the sand
south of Natanya.
Ten thousand people
attended Oron's funeral
while the nation shared in
his parents' grief. In a wave
of horrified reaction,
thousands have been cal-
ling for the introduction of
the death penalty for this
sort of crime.
Surprisingly, the self-
confessed kidnapper is a
serious artist and one of his
pictures is on display in the
President's House. It was
presented to former
President Katzir by the
T4 rison Services, painted by
ONr during a previous term
behil.-1 bars.
Gur's -wife and children
left the cou,-, try with the
help of Voice oft. ..ace owner
and philanthropist, Abl e
Nathan, after threats axvi
harassment from their
Natanya neighbors — a
particularly sour irony con-
sidering that Gur had left
them' to live with his
girlfriend in Herzliya, and
it was under her mother's
house that he had hidden
from the police while taking
the ransom money.
Amos and Pnina Yarden
are busy turning down invi-
tations to the circumcisions
of hundreds of babies who
have been named after their
late son — a gesture of sol-
idarity from a people deeply
moved by the tragedy of the
Yarden family.
Friday, September 12, 1980 107
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
MAURICE and SHIRLEY NEEMAN & FAMILY
tiZrizri rims) rt:V5
HARVEY, BRENDA & JEFF VINTON
wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year
DR. and MRS. DAVID I. SILVER
Wishes Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
11Zrizn fIZIta rutr5
JOSEF and MIRIAM SLAIM
would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year
•
GEORGE and LIBBY WEINGARDEN
Wishes Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
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tfiE Comin
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IZtIZII ;IMO 1uv5
The Mitnick Families
Charlotte and Herbert
Randy, Barry, Halye and Robyn
Marsha and Ronald