Israeli Lawmaker Appeals to Michelle Obama to Push for Freeing Kidnapped Israeli Teens Like She Did for Nigerian Girls

Following first lady Michelle Obama’s public call last month for Boko Haram militants to release the hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria, an Israeli lawmaker is now appealing to her to take on the issue of the three kidnapped Israeli teenage boys, one of whom holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship.

Member of Knesset Aliza Lavie is appealing to Michelle Obama to help free the three kidnapped Israeli boys. (Photo: Yesh Atid party via Wikipedia)

Israeli Member of Knesset Aliza Lavie of the center-left Yesh Atid party posted a video on YouTube in which she asked Michelle Obama for her help.

“Dear first lady, dear Michelle,” Lavie said. “Please help us to bring our boys back home. Boys have to be out of the game.”

“We will continue praying, but we need help. I’m talking to you as mother to mother, as woman to woman. Please help us to bring the boys back home to Israel,” Lavie said.

Delivering the weekly White House video address on May 10, Michelle Obama called the Nigerian kidnapping an issue of “great significance” to her. She said that she and President Barack Obama were “outraged” and “heartbroken” over the kidnapping of more than 200 girls from their school dormitory.

“In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters,” she said. “We can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now.” She also posted this photo on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/statuses/464148654354628608/

Two of the kidnapped Israelis Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel, the dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, are 16, the same age as the Obamas' eldest daughter, Malia.

The three boys were last seen last Thursday night hitchhiking home from their boarding schools in the Etzion Bloc region of the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for the kidnapping, while the Israel Defense Forces have detained more than 240 Palestinians for questioning.

Here is the video from Lavie: