She Doesn’t Even Know His Name

Please use the hashtag: #WhatsMyNameJen

An American citizen was kidnapped by terrorists a week ago. It took 6 days for the White House to offer a supportive comment to the family members of the three kidnapped boys.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of 3 Israeli teens who were kidnapped last week. May they be reunited with their sons soon.

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2014

And the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, Jen Psaki, couldn’t even name the U.S. citizen held captive by Hamas terrorists, one full week after the fact, at yesterday’s press briefing.

QUESTION: Can I ask if you have a privacy waiver for the – one of the teenagers?

 

MS. PSAKI: We do, yes. So we can confirm that one of the kidnapped was an American citizen.

 

QUESTION: Which one?

 

MS. PSAKI: I believe his name has been reported. I don’t have it in front of me right now.

She doesn’t know his name. She doesn’t know his NAME.

MS. PSAKI: I think we recognize this is an incredibly sensitive —

QUESTION: Right.

 

MS. PSAKI: — and difficult circumstance on the ground, and we feel all sides should exercise restraint. So —

 

QUESTION: And thus far you believe that all sides have exercised restraint? Is that —

 

MS. PSAKI: We wouldn’t say all sides should exercise restraint if we felt all sides were at this point.

The U.S. State Department calls for restraint “on both sides.”  As if somehow Israel is a naughty child or a bad actor for pursuing the investigation of a crime in an area that is a hotbed of terrorism. As if an intensive military operation to find and set free, three teenage captives, one of whom is a U.S. citizen–an investigation to find 3 CHILDREN held by Hamas terrorists–as if the investigation should be handled with exquisite delicacy, perhaps in consultation with Emily Post.

As if some sort of moral equivalence can be drawn between terrorism and the investigation of a crime.

Jen Psaki thinks this is an “incredibly sensitive” situation. But she can’t even put a name to the teenage victim that holds U.S. citizenship.

She doesn’t know his name.

She doesn’t even know his name!

It’s Naftali Frenkel.

#WhatsMyNameJen