The father, Jacob Fattal, only emerged into public view last week after his son was freed and flew to Oman where pictures were taken of father and son together. Before that, Josh’s mother, Laura Fattal, was the public face of the family. It was widely believed that Josh’s father was dead or that his mother had divorced him.
All the time, however, Jacob and Laura Fattal, were living together as man and wife in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. Elkins Park was the home of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu while he lived in the United States as a child.
The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia knew the real story all the time but kept mum until this week.
Jacob Fattal, Josh’s father, was born in Basra, Iraq, in 1947 and migrated with his family to Israel in 1951. He lived with his parents and siblings in the Kiryat Ono transit camp, and later in Pardes Katz. After his Israeli military service, he left for the United States, where he studied engineering, married and raised a family.
Today, he is the publisher of US-Tech, a technology magazine published in Philadelphia and distributed worldwide.
Jacob Fattal was approached Monday by Haaretz, an Israeli daily, and asked about his son’s release. “We’re very happy; it’s the greatest gift we could have dreamed of receiving for Rosh Hashanah.”
Jacob said of the three hikers, “The problem was their being American, not Jewish. The Iranians used them as a political weapon for two years.”
But beyond Jewish, being Iraqi-born and Israeli raised fears that Jacob could spell trouble for his son. To avoid drawing attention, Josh’s brother, Alexander, and mother led the campaign to free him, while Jacob refrained from giving media interviews and literally hid out of sight.
“I want to thank the media in the United States and Israel for cooperating with us,” Jacob said.
The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia also revealed that Josh visited Israel shortly before he was taken captive by Iran. After finishing his visit there, Josh traveled to Damascus to meet up with old college buddy Shane Bauer and Bauer’s girlfriend, Sarah Shourd. The three of them then went to Iraqi Kurdistan for what turned out to be very fateful hike.