Families of soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah to sue UN

September 9, 2004
Maariv International
Original Source: http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=11009
Eight months after bodies of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed return to Israel, their relatives announce intention to sue UN, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria and Lebanon. 
NRG Maariv 
The families of the three IDF soldiers who were kidnapped by Hezbollah have announced their intention to file a suit against the United Nations and the Hezbollah organization. Iran, Syria and Lebanon will also be sued in view of their support of the Lebanese terror group.
The suit will be filed in a US court by relatives of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed, eight months after their bodies were returned to Israel for burial as part of the prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah.
The three families confirmed their intentions in a conversation with NRG Maariv. “On Sunday, we will hold a press conference at Sokolov House in Tel Aviv, during which we will say all that we have to say”. Ya’akov Avitan, father of Adi, said.
Since the October 2000 abductions, Israel and the families have expressed outrage over the UN’s inability to prevent the kidnappings.
In July 2001, it was revealed that UNIFIL soldiers filmed Hezbollah operatives as they were transferring the three IDF troops, about 18 hours after they were kidnapped, from a distance of barely 20 km from point of abduction.
In addition, it became evident that several UN soldiers knew that the Lebanese terror group intends to kidnap IDF soldiers from the area of the Shaba Farms and had even been paid off by the Hezbollah in order to turn a blind eye.
Israeli officials were also infuriated over the fact that the UN had hidden a tape that was filmed during the abduction and demanded of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to use that tape in order to help determine the fate of the soldiers. Only after a long struggle, the UN allowed Israeli officials to view the tape, but only four times.