Israeli-American Hiker Kidnapped in Amazon
An Israeli American man reportedly was kidnapped while hiking in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
Mickey Grossman, 64, a Yom Kippur War veteran, allegedly was captured Sunday by 15 armed gunmen whose affiliation is unclear, as well as several members of the Huaorani Tribe, near Yasuni National Park, which reportedly is an unfriendly area to foreigners.
His son Shahar told Ynet that he last made contact with his family on Sunday and that they have been in touch with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. ambassador to Quito, who promised to seek his release.
“There have been past cases in which the [tribesmen] just killed their captives because they were white,” Shahar told Ynet. “They hate white people because of the oil companies that operated in the area in the past.”
Mickey Grossman, who moved to Florida from Israel some 20 years ago, embarked on an Amazon trek more than three months ago in an effort to raise awareness of the destruction of rainforests, whose plants have yielded a variety of medications, including the cancer drugs that saved his own life a few years ago, Ynet reported.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30