Elchanan Tannenbaum

Elchanan Tannenbaum, ( _he. אלחנן טננבוים, "Elhanan Tenenboym"; born 12 August 1946) is an Israeli businessman and formerly a colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, who was kidnapped by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, after being lured out of Israel under the false pretenses of a drug deal. Tannenbaum's kidnapping was announced on 16 October 2000.

He was kidnapped in Dubai and taken to Lebanon. His abduction is believed to have been conducted by Imad Mugniyah, a senior member of Hezbollah. The abduction was executed by Sheik Kais Obeid, an Israeli Arab, a grandson of a former Israeli parliament (the Knesset) member from the Labor Party, who crossed the lines to become senior officer for Hezbollah. Obeid was a close friend of Tannenbaum.

Prisoner exchange

Tannenbaum was released in January 2004 as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah. The swap, mediated by Germany, resulted in the exchange of 435 prisoners held by Israel in return for Tannenbaum's release and the return of the bodies of three soldiers killed during an ambush along the Israeli-Lebanese border. [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3442719.stm
title=Mid-East prisoners welcomed home
publisher=BBC News
date=2004-01-29
accessdate=2007-05-05] Following his release, Tannenbaum was placed under arrest for his illegal actions that led up to his capture. He agreed to a plea-bargain and admitted to the reasons behind his travel to Kuwait and described the details of his capture. In exchange, he was not tried for any crime and served no jail time. [cite web
url=http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=66727
title=Tenenbaum´s Saga Ends
publisher=Arutz Sheva
date=2004-08-03
accessdate=2007-05-05] Among the 435 people released were Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abdul-Karim Obeid. These two individuals were kidnapped, in 1994 and 1989 respectively, for use as bargaining chips in the effort to secure the release of the most famous of the Israeli MIAs, Ron Arad. Fearing the release of these men would end any hope of finding Arad, his family attempted to take legal action to prevent their release. Nothing came of this effort.

In December 2006, Tannenbaum, for the first time, admitted that he went to Lebanon to complete a drug deal. He had expected to make $200,000 (€152,000) on the deal. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/20/africa/ME_GEN_Israel_Former_Captive.php Israeli freed by Hezbollah in 2004 admits drug deal] December 20, 2006, International Herald Tribune Retrieved on 2007-09-11]

References

External links

* [http://www.mia.org.il/tannenbaum.html ICMIS Biography on Tannenbaum]
* [http://www.mia.org.il/archive.html ICMIS collection of media articles on Tannenbaum and other missing Israeli soldiers.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/975314.stm Israeli captive 'lured' by Hezbollah (10/17/00)]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3438697.stm Middle East foes swap prisoners 01/29/04]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3504345.stm Israel doubts freed captive story (02/17/04)]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3541569.stm Israel to probe prisoner exchange (07/03/04)]