‘Personal miracle’ – Bennett meets with Israelis who were held captive in Turkey

“I saw your prayers and was very emotional.”

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met on Monday with Natali and Mordi Oknin at the Knesset, less than one week after their return to Israel from Turkey.

The Oknins had been arrested in Turkey and spent days in a Turkish jail before being rescued by Israel through direct but quiet diplomatic negotiations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“It is so great that you are home,” Bennett said. “I am so happy. I saw your prayers and was very emotional.”

The couple spoke about their experience in Turkey in interviews with Israeli media, including how they were arrested just minutes after Natali Oknin snapped a photo of the president’s personal palace and sent it to her family on WhatsApp.

“I took a picture and marked a circle,” Natali Oknin recalled. “I did not have to do it.”

She said that “we were afraid it would take longer [to get out of prison], but it was fast. We were afraid it might end badly.”

But she said that she knew the country would not leave her and Mordy in Turkey.

“We knew that they would save us, we knew they would turn worlds, that’s what kept me going,” she said.

“It is a personal miracle,” she added. “Eight days – just like the jug of oil [on Chanukkah].”

ChanukahIsrael-Turkey relations