Michal Worke, an Israeli artist with Ethiopian roots, shares her studio house and paintings. Much of her work is dedicated to a kidnapped Ethiopian Israeli citizen who has been held in Gaza for over 9 years by Hamas.

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Michal Worke, an Israeli artist with Ethiopian roots, shares her studio house and paintings. Much of her work is dedicated to a kidnapped Ethiopian Israeli citizen who has been held in Gaza for over 9 years by Hamas.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images

Nine years.

That’s how way back for the reason that Mengistu household final noticed their son and brother, Avera Mengistu. He was 27 years outdated when he ran throughout the Gaza border in a state of emotional misery and was taken by Hamas. He is 36 now.

“It’s a hole. It’s like a sense: like eyes, or ears, or a wound. You live with it forever, until this whole thing is over and he comes home,” Yallo Mengistu mentioned of his brother’s absence in his household’s lives. “We live with it all day, every day.”

Mengistu’s kidnapping stays prime of thoughts for his household and Israel’s Ethiopian Jewish neighborhood after round 240 hostages have been taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.

A deal to that has resulted in the release of some of the hostages didn’t embrace a point out of a potential change for Mengistu or Hisham al-Sayed, a Palestinian citizen of Israel of Bedouin descent who was taken by Hamas in 2015.

The posters bearing the names and faces of the Oct. 7 hostages hold virtually all over the place throughout Israel: on avenue indicators, bus stops, restaurant home windows and vehicles. But Mengistu’s identify and face is nowhere to be seen, though Israel says it’s dedicated to bringing again all hostages.

Mengistu’s case highlights the inequality going through Ethiopian Jews and different non-white Israelis, says one artist and activist who has known as for Avera’s return for years.

“Avera’s story is my story and it’s the story of the entire Ethiopian community,” Michal Worke, an Israeli artist of Ethiopian descent, mentioned. “Nine years he’s been a hostage in Gaza, and no one cares.”

The Mengistu household have been pressured to maintain quiet

Avera Mengistu’s mom Agarnesh Mengistu (left) and his sister Tsige Engidaw enter the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, on July 5, 2023.

Gabriel Monnet/AFP through Getty Images

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Gabriel Monnet/AFP through Getty Images

Avera Mengistu’s mom Agarnesh Mengistu (left) and his sister Tsige Engidaw enter the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, on July 5, 2023.

Gabriel Monnet/AFP through Getty Images

Yallo Mengistu mentioned he isn’t making an attempt to make comparisons between these taken on Oct. 7 and his brother’s case.

But identical to these households of the Oct. 7 hostages, the absence of his brother is a wound that can’t heal with out his return, he mentioned.

“Every time that someone brings up Avera in front of my mother, she cries,” he mentioned. “And a lot of years have gone by, but you don’t get used to it. It’s a living thing.”

After a battle along with his mom on Sept. 7, 2014, Avera Mengistu left his household residence in Ashkelon, Israel, and by no means returned. Video proof considered by the household exhibits that Mengistu entered Gaza by crossing a fence that evening, according to Human Rights Watch.

He crossed into Gaza in full view of Israeli troopers who did not cease him. Once in Gaza, he was taken captive by Hamas.

Avera Mengistu when he was youthful in an undated household photograph.

Yallo Mengistu

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Yallo Mengistu

The evening he left, Mengistu was in an emotional state, his brother mentioned. He had been affected by a decline in his psychological well being for the reason that dying of his brother, Masrashau, in 2011 and had been hospitalized and on medicines.

The indisputable fact that Mengistu crossed the Gaza border by himself and suffered from psychological well being points is a degree that has since been twisted by some within the Israeli media and the federal government to dismiss the gravity of his state of affairs, Worke, the artist calling for his launch, mentioned.

“It wasn’t of his own accord. Avera was diagnosed as mentally ill, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital twice, he was on medications,” Yallo Mengistu mentioned. His brother could not take accountability for his actions. “So the claim that he crossed the border of his own free will, it’s not even relevant.”

Every week after Mengistu was taken, there was a gathering along with his household and a few authorities representatives.

“They told us, ‘We know where he is, there’s no need to worry, just keep it quiet. Don’t talk about it.’ Then, a month later, we were visited by the Commander of the Gaza Division, he came and said that they had lost contact with him [Avera] and they didn’t know where he was. Since then, we haven’t had any information. Nothing.”

In a press release to NPR, the Israeli prime minister’s workplace mentioned: “All the hostages held in Gaza will be brought back to Israel. Gal Hirsch the special coordinator for the hostages and the missing appointed by the prime minister met with the Mengistu family. Israel is committed to bringing back all its hostages and missing people, including Avera Mengistu.”

The Israeli authorities solely introduced Mengistu was held by Hamas in July 2015 — virtually a yr after his disappearance. That was as a result of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz submitted a request to repeal the gag order placed on Mengistu’s case by the federal government.

If that hadn’t occurred, Yallo Mengistu mentioned the household probably would have continued to remain quiet. In 2015, Haaretz released a YouTube video of a name between the Mengistu household and members of the federal government during which the officers might be heard threatening and bullying the household.

“It’s the hardest possible situation. On one hand, they tell you that if you talk it’s going to be bad for him, and will result in him staying in Gaza for much longer, but if you keep quiet, we’ll bring him back right away,” he mentioned. “You shut up and suffer in silence. It’s a terrible feeling.”

In January 2023, greater than eight years after his kidnapping, Hamas launched a video purporting to be of Mengistu nonetheless alive. According to The New York Times, Mengistu requested in Hebrew within the video, “How long will my friends and I remain in captivity here after long years of suffering and pain? Where are the state and the people of Israel?”

At the time of the video’s release, i24NEWS English spoke to the Mengistu household. They mentioned they have been unsure about whether or not it was positively Avera. The household mentioned they noticed video solely by way of the press — identical to the remainder of Israel.

“Avera’s story is my story”

Worke has spent years devoting a lot of her work to Avera Mengistu, an Israeli citizen who has been held for over 9 years in Gaza and who has been forgotten by the Israeli media and the federal government, she says.

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Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images

Worke has spent years devoting a lot of her work to Avera Mengistu, an Israeli citizen who has been held for over 9 years in Gaza and who has been forgotten by the Israeli media and the federal government, she says.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images

In the 9 years since his brother’s kidnapping, the Mengistu household has discovered a silver residing: “Regular people who never met Avera, they did more and helped more than the government,” Yallo Mengistu mentioned.

There is a large portion of Israeli society, he mentioned, together with of the Mengistu’s personal Ethiopian Jewish neighborhood, that has supported their household.

Ethiopian Jews began arriving in Israel within the late Seventies. Now, there are greater than 140,000 Jewish Israeli residents of Ethiopian origin. But the Ethiopian Jewish neighborhood typically endure critical discrimination and inequality in Israel. Ethiopian Jews are often on the the bottom socioeconomic rung in Israel.

Worke is an artist and a member of this inhabitants. Since Mengistu’s kidnapping, she has painted him and his household. She posts her work repeatedly on social media and seems at protests at all times advocating for his launch.

She mentioned she sees the inequality going through the neighborhood all over the place.

“I’ve confronted it in my education, in the art world, where they don’t give enough voice to Ethiopian artists,” she mentioned. “So, Avera’s story appears in lots of smaller stories and it makes his story more symbolic, something shared by the whole community.”

Michal Worke, an Israeli artist with Ethiopian roots, shares her work dedicated to Avera Mengistu.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images

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Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images

Michal Worke, an Israeli artist with Ethiopian roots, shares her work dedicated to Avera Mengistu.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images

Worke mentioned she’s seen the paintings created in honor of the tons of of Israelis taken on Oct. 7, some of whom have been freed as a part of a take care of Hamas involving the discharge of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

“There are artists who immediately started working, who just jumped right in and started showing their faces [the kidnapped] and giving them a platform. But not for Avera. He isn’t there, his face isn’t anywhere,” she mentioned.

She continues to publish about his case, sharing her work of him, even after Oct. 7 when a lot of the main focus has been on the hostages taken within the Hamas assault. She mentioned she’s confronted criticism for doing so.

“I post a critical story about Avera and people say it’s not the time to criticize. If you don’t say something, nothing will change,” she mentioned. “And I want it to be clear, I love my country. But I think if you want to change something, you have to identify the problem.”

NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz reported from Tel Aviv. Freelance producer Eve Guterman contributed to this report.