BELGRADE – Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić revealed to The Jerusalem Post last week that he personally appealed to Arab leaders to help secure the release of Israeli-Serbian citizen Alon Ohel, who was abducted by Hamas during the October 7 massacre and held in Gaza for more than 600 days.
“I met his family several times,” Vučić said as part of an exclusive and wide-ranging interview at the Presidential Palace in Belgrade. “I was so touched by the way they were presenting the case of their son and grandson when they were here. They were so proud and so dignified. They were doing everything in a solemn, serious way; doing everything to help.”
The young dual-national, who was attending the Nova music festival near Re’im when Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel, last week passed 600 days in captivity. His family revealed in April that they had received information from released hostages that Ohel was now blind in one eye.
“Alon is injured. He lost sight in one eye, and we know that his other eye can be saved,” his father Kobi said at the time.
Taken captive on October 7 from the “death shelter” along with additional hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ohel sustained shrapnel wounds from some of the grenades thrown into the shelter, his mother Idit said.
He was then physically abused and tortured, she said, adding that he received “disgraceful treatment from Hamas – a 19-year-old sewed him up with needle and thread, with no painkiller.”
Vučić described his quiet but determined efforts behind the scenes to gather information and plead for assistance.
“I asked some of my friends in the Middle East for help, and we got some info that he was alive,” the Serbian president shared. “Of course, you never know. It is terribly difficult to convey this type of message to the mother who is waiting for her son. But I said to her, ‘I cannot guarantee it, but we have information that he is alive.’ And then we got official information that he was alive, that he was injured, and passing through difficult times.”
Importance of international cooperation to Serbia and ties with Arab countries
Vučić added that Serbia had done all it could within its limited capacity, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation in such cases. “We will always do our best. He is our citizen, he is an Israeli citizen. He is just a young man who has the right to live. We have some friends in the Arab world, too – good friends – and I am begging those people to help take care of that young guy and free him as soon as possible. I was really begging my friends for his life.”
The president has developed excellent ties with many Arab countries during his presidency, most notably United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The Serbian leader reserved special praise for Ohel’s family. “His family is amazing – his grandparents. That was the first time I saw how Israelis and Jewish people are able to bear that type of burden on their shoulders. It was not an easy meeting at all, but this is what I saw. What can you say to a mother who is waiting for her son, and not disappoint their expectations?”
Reflecting on the circumstances of Ohel’s abduction, he added: “These people are civilians. Being present at a music festival, listening to the music – that was their biggest sin.”
Vučić’s comments come amid increasingly warm ties between Serbia and Israel. Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Belgrade in September 2024, and earlier this year, Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Ðurić made an official visit to Israel, reinforcing diplomatic cooperation between the two nations.
The full interview with President Vučić, covering Serbia-Israel relations, the Gaza war, Belgrade’s EXPO 2027 exposition, and more, will be published later this week in The Jerusalem Post.