Memo to the media: A lion cannot be a hostage and calling a lion a hostage minimizes the crime of taking hostages in Gaza and around the world.
Five days after the release of the BBC journalist Alan Johnston, another high-profile hostage was freed today from the Gaza Strip – a lioness called Sabrina.
She was found malnourished and with four missing teeth during a Hamas raid on the hideout of a criminal gang. Sabrina was returned to Gaza zoo – from where she was seized in November 2005 – and was being fed on minced meat to restore her strength.
Sabrina was only a few months old when she was kidnapped along with two Arabic-speaking parrots. The director of the zoo offered a reward for her return, but there had been little word about her whereabouts and growing concern about her safety.
Sabrina’s captors were reported to be charging people 50p to be photographed beside her.
I am curious about the parrots, however. Are they anti-Semitic as well as Arab speaking?