Julie Mautner

Here is the full, translated statement from the Raanan family in response to Shaun King’s bizarre claim that he played a part in getting Judith and Natalie Raanan released by Hamas: "Today we came across bizarre posts on the Instagram page of one Shaun King, who turns out to have millions of followers, who claims that our relative Natalie Raanan supports the anti-Israeli messages he uploads to his page. First and foremost, we make it clear that he is lying! Our family does not and did not have anything to do with him, neither directly nor indirectly. Not to him and not to anything he claims to represent. Natalie told us that this morning it was the first time in her life that she came across Shaun King's name and his posts, after she finally got a phone call after two horrific weeks in captivity in Gaza, and was looking for what was written about her while she was away. Shaun King is trying to catch a ride on the great exposure that her kidnapping received all over the world and in the US in particular, and the most ridiculous thing is that Natalie and her mother Judith are very active in Rabbi Hecht's Jewish community in Chicago and in the Chabad house, and if Shaun King knew them or their family he would know that. We ask not to be quick on the keyboard and share things without checking them in depth. Mainly not to believe people who speak for others. The damage that the sharing of these lies does is so huge, and the effort of our family and all the families of the abductees should be focused on bringing them home, and not fighting the lies that are being spread like wildfire. We're not done, we've just started. We have 2 more murdered in the family and 8 more family members still kidnapped, and there are over 200 more families in our situation. Now we need the support of all the people of Israel and all the countries of the world to bring everyone home as soon as possible!"