August 7, 2012

(JTA)– 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.

Keep up with JTA’s comprehensive coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

Click to login and write a letter to the editor.

This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.