Palestinian Authority Head’s Wife Hospitalized in Israel

The wife of Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas, who recently formed a national unity government with Hamas, is being treated at a top Israeli hospital notwithstanding Hamas’s abduction of three Israeli teens.

Israeli media reported Sunday that Amina Abbas, wife of Palestinian Authority Head Mahmoud Abbas, was convalescing at a top private Tel Aviv hospital after undergoing knee transplant surgery.

A report by Yediot Aharonot said that Abbas’s wife was in Assuta Hospital, considered one of the best in Israel. She has been hospitalized since last Thursday, and on Friday she underwent a leg operation. She was, according to the report, staying in a private room in the hospital’s orthopedic wing with no roommates. Security guards were on duty 24 hours a day, with no one except for doctors and nurses allowed to enter.

News of the hospitalization comes as Israeli forces are conducting an intensive search for three abducted Israeli teens: Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frankel (16) and Gilad Sha’ar (16). According to a hospital source, officials have not even listed her name on the roster of patients, instead using a pseudonym.

“No one here has any idea who she is, and questions about the heavy security by patients and visitors are ignored,” the source said.

Another source indicates that after the news of her hospitalization was published, she was spirited away to a different location.

Assuta officials refused to officially respond to the report.

Former MK Michael Ben-Ari expressed sharp criticism at the “kid glove” treatment Abbas’s wife was getting at one of Israel’s top hospitals, saying:

Former parliamentarian Michael Ben-Ari addresses Knesset in 2012. (Photo: Uri Lenz/FLASH90)

“Our pity and caring for our enemies shows how stupid we really are. While our kidnapped boys are sitting in the shadow of death, the wife of the leader of these terrorists is getting the best of care from us.”

Ben-Ari suggested keeping the wife of the Palestinian Authority leader in a “dark cell,” similar to the ones in which the youths were most likely being held. “It’s time for us to show the world that we, too, care about our children,” he told Israel National News.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu would never think of sending his wife to Gaza for treatment. Only the terrorist Abbas, who is responsible for the kidnappings, knows that she will get the best care from Israel,” Ben-Ari added.

In a statement Saturday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimate responsibility for the return of the boys lay with Abbas. The Prime Minister said that he had “demanded that the Palestinian Authority, headed by Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas], from whose territory the kidnappers came, do whatever necessary to help the hostages get home safely. That is the Palestinian Authority’s responsibility.”

Author: Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency