The Taoiseach's response to the release of Emily Hand has been described as "deeply insensitive" by the Israeli government.
The nine year old Irish-Israeli girl was held captive in Gaza for 50 days - after being kidnapped by Hamas during its 7th of October attack.
However, Leo Varadkar has been criticised for saying "an innocent child who was lost has now been found."
Israeli Government spokesperson Eylon Levy says the statement caused a lot of hurt:
"If taken literally this was, of course, absurd. Little Emily Hand was not hiding in a lost-and-found box. I think the explanation that this was an allusion to scripture does the Taoiseach no favours. There can be no comparison between Emily Hand and the Prodigal Son. She was not some wayward sinner who went away and then came back for forgiveness. She was brutally abducted by Hamas, a terror organisation that the Taoiseach does not mention in that statement".
