Local Leaders Meet With Israeli Prime Minister
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Local leaders met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just days after three teens were found dead after being kidnapped while hitchhiking home from school in the West Bank.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) met with Netanyahu to offer their condolences for the deaths of the teens and to offer support for Israel.
Ros-Lehtinen issued a statement about the meeting, saying, "These last few days have been a trying and difficult time for the people of Israel after the bodies of three of their sons were found. As an entire nation mourned, we mourned with it. We conveyed our deepest sympathies to Prime Minister Netanyahu and reaffirmed to our closest ally, the democratic Jewish State of Israel, that the United States stands firmly with it as it struggles to cope with the tragic loss of Eyal, Naftali and Gilad and as it seeks to bring the perpetrators to justice."
South Florida's Jewish community will hold a memorial service on Thursday for for Gil-Ad Shaer,16, Naftali Fraenkel,16 and 19-year old Eyal Yifrah. The service will be at the Miami Jewish Home located at 52nd Street and NW 2nd Avenue starting at 3:00 p.m.
On Tuesday, another memorial service was held for the Jewish teens just a day after their bodies were discovered under rocks. South Florida local, David Halberstam, who is one of the teen's cousins said it hurt when he got the news about his cousin's death.
Ros-Lehtinen and Deutch also discussed threats that Israel faces with Netanyahu as the stability of the region continues to deteriorate. They also spoke about extremism in Syria and Iraq as well as the threat posed by Iran's nuclear weapons program.
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