Dublin hotel ‘cancelled booking’ by Hand family

THE family of the nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl who was freed last night by Hamas were refused admission to a Dublin hotel last week because they are Israeli, her older sister claims.

Last week, Emily’s father Thomas Hand, originally from Dún Laoghaire but living in

Israel since 1992, visited Dublin with his daughter Natali – Emily’s half sister – to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and other Government representatives. Mr Hand told RTÉ News that he was satisfied the Government was doing everything it could to help get Emily back.

But according to an interview 26-year-old Natali gave to the Israeli magazine La’Isha, the Hands were left dismayed by their visit to Dublin and had their hotel booking cancelled because of their nationality.

‘They hate Israel there,’ Natali told the women’s lifestyle magazine. ‘Tearing down posters in the street, cancelling reservations as soon as it becomes known that we are Israelis.

‘I know, for example, that they reserved a hotel for us, and then, when they heard that we were Israelis, they cancelled the reservation. Really ignorant.’

Natali’s mother Narkis – Thomas’s ex-wife who Natali said became a ‘second mother’ to Emily after her biological mother Liat Kornberg died of cancer six years ago – was killed during the October 7 attacks, aged 54.

Natali was in Australia when it happened.

In the interview Natali said that her experience in Ireland was ‘why it’s important to me that this interview reaches as many people as possible. I hear that people abroad support the Palestinians and doubt what Hamas has done. I want everyone to read and know that they murdered my mother and kidnapped my little sister.’

The MoS contacted Natali through social media, but had not received a response as of last night.

A vigil was held in Phoenix

Park last Friday to mark the ninth birthday of Emily, who was originally reported to have been killed during the October 7 attacks.