Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar sparked equal measures of anger and dismay Saturday when he greeted the release of Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand by saying “an innocent child who was lost has now been found.”
Varadkar used social media to make his statement neglecting to mention the nine-year-old Hand had been held hostage for 50 days in Gaza by Hamas terrorists after she was taken from a sleepover with her friend on October 7 during the terror group’s devastating attack on Israel.
“This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family,” Varadkar’s official account tweeted on X, formerly Twitter. “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”
Readers of the tweet responded by putting the matter into context, with critics accusing the Irish premier of trying to normalise terror particularly for his use of the words “lost and found”:
Emily Hand was not “lost”, she was “kidnapped”, taken as hostage by Hamas. Kidnapping is against the law, being lost is not.
Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he had ordered his staff to call in Ireland’s ambassador for a reprimand.
In a post on X directed at Varadkar earlier on Sunday, Cohen wrote: “It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check!”
The Times of Israel set out a host of other diplomatic responses, observing War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz panned the remarks, saying in a post on X that “Emily was never ‘Lost’ – she was brutally kidnapped and held hostage by terrorist Hamas.”
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy also joined in. He tweeted a response assailing Varadkar and asserting his remarks were representative of Ireland’s passivity on the entire hostage situation.
“This is how you describe a little girl who went missing during a stroll in a forest, then gets discovered by a friendly hiker,” Levy wrote. “Not a girl brutally abducted by death squads that brutally massacred her neighbors.”
File/A woman holds a Star of David pendant and a leaflet Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand held hostage by Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza during a gathering for her 9th birthday outside the office of Save The Children International in London on November 17, 2023. (DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty)
Thomas Hand (L), the father of Emily Hand, and Orit Meir (R), the mother of Almog Meir, react during a press conference at the Embassy of Israel by family members of some of those held hostage in Gaza, on November 20, 2023 at the Israeli embassy in London, England. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
“But this explains the extent of Ireland’s contribution: prayers,” he added.
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz agreed, adding “Emily was never ‘Lost’ – she was brutally kidnapped and held hostage by terrorist Hamas.”
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy also tweeted a response assailing Varadkar and asserting that his remarks were representative of Ireland’s passivity on the entire hostage situation.
“This is how you describe a little girl who went missing during a stroll in a forest, then gets discovered by a friendly hiker,” Levy wrote. “Not a girl brutally abducted by death squads that brutally massacred her neighbors.”
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“But this explains the extent of Ireland’s contribution: prayers,” he added.
Hand was abducted along with around 240 other people of all ages when thousands of terrorists crossed the border from the Gaza Strip and murdered over 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians slaughtered in their homes and at a music festival.
Her father had initially been told that she had died in the October 7 attack; he said it was better that she had died than have to endure torture by Hamas.
When it was reported she was still alive, he prayed for her release — and it finally came on Saturday night. A photo of the reunion of father and daughter showed her looking extremely pale but relieved, holding a teddy bear that had been given to her.
Meanwhile one of the other hostages, Maya Regev, had to be taken to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva (Beersheba) for urgent medical treatment, as Breitbart’s Joel Pollak reported.