Israeli businessman admits to faking terror kidnapping

JERUSALEM, Sept. 21 (JTA) – An Israeli businessman who disappeared earlier this month has admitted that he fabricated the story that he was kidnapped by terrorists. Ya’acov Schwartz, 63, told police Sunday that he had not been abducted for three days, as he had earlier claimed. He did not say why he made up the story of his disappearance, but police speculated that he acted in an effort to unite the Israeli people during the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Earlier this month, Schwartz’s family in Bnei Brak reported him missing when he failed to return home after visiting his father’s grave with his son, Ronni, in southern Israel. His car was found abandoned near the Gaza Strip, raising fears that Islamic militants may have seized him. Schwartz was found Sept. 12 in an abandoned building in Ashkelon. A police official told Israel Television that Schwartz said he had hid for two days in a Tel Aviv factory he owns before moving to Ashkelon. Police began questioning him when they found discrepancies between his description of events and testimony gathered from witnesses. Efforts to locate Schwartz, which involved some 700 policemen and volunteers as well as helicopters, are estimated to have cost more than $300,000. Albright, who was in Israel at the time, had asked the Palestinian Authority for assistance in finding Schwartz.