This 16-Year-Old American Is Among Hundreds of Palestinian Children Jailed in Israel
On the morning of October Zaher Ibrahim desperately tried to find his son among the dozens of newly freed Palestinians streaming from Red Cross buses in the occupied West Bank city of Beitunia Zaher s son Mohammed Ibrahim a -year-old Palestinian American was swept up by Israeli forces during a dawn raid at their home in the village of al-Mazra a ash-Sharqiya in February The Israeli military charged Mohammed with throwing a rock and striking a car driven by an Israeli settler an accusation he and his family deny While Israel has not publicly provided evidence Mohammed has spent the last eight months in Israeli prisons awaiting a trial that has been repeatedly postponed Mohammed has been barred from speaking with his family who have continued to push for his release And after learning that he suffered a scabies infection and severe weight loss Mohammed s family has begun to fear for his life The U S -brokered ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel which freed nearly Palestinians from detention appeared to be the breakthrough Zaher and his wife Mona Ibrahim had so desperately awaited On the morning of the releases Zaher rushed to Beituna and conscientiously watched the buses empty Mohammed wasn t a part of the caravan Zaher then got word that specific of those published were being taken to local hospitals for healing He hurried from hospital to hospital Back at home Mona prepared to celebrate Mohammed s return by cooking maqluba a pot of rice vegetables and meat served upside down her son s favorite dish Hours later Zaher returned home alone I just waited and waited and waited Zaher recalled and still waiting The the greater part common charge among children is throwing rocks which carries a maximum sentence of years Mohammed Ibrahim is among an alarming number of children overlooked by the ceasefire agreement More than Palestinian children remain in Israeli prisons according to Defense for Children International Palestine Nearly half are being held without charges the highest number since when DCIP began tracking cases The rest of the children are serving sentences or like Mohammed are still awaiting trial The the bulk common charge among children is throwing rocks which carries a maximum sentence of years This tally doesn t include the unknown number of children held inside Israeli military facilities While Mohammed s detention is a single development among a multitude of his story offers a window into Israel s deadly and unlawful carceral system Through The Intercept s interviews with family members and advocates for imprisoned Palestinians review of physiological records and legal testimony and footage of the Israeli police s interrogation of Mohammed in February it became clear that Mohammed s circumstance fits within the Israeli governing body s long-standing patterns of detention abuse and deprivation of basic human rights Mohammed s event has received widespread attention over the past week largely due to his status as an American citizen but also because of a tireless campaign led by his family In the U S Zaher s cousin Zeyad Kadur has met privately with lawmakers in Congress alongside parents whose American children were killed by Israeli forces or settlers calling on the U S governing body to secure Mohammed s release In September the State Department assigned a diplomat to handle Mohammed s episode And on Wednesday after two days lobbying in D C Kadur s second visit to the Capitol in as a multitude of months Democratic lawmakers sent a letter calling on U S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to exert pressure to free Mohammed The campaign arrived as details of Mohammed s prison conditions came to focus this week with the release of a firsthand testimony relayed to a lawyer with DCIP In the account Mohammed tells of living in a cell with four bunk beds shared with at least eight children forcing specific to sleep on the floor The only items in each cell are thin mattresses blankets and a single copy of the Quran he disclosed He and other children are served two meals a day three small pieces of bread and a spoonful of labneh for breakfast a small cup of rice and a single sausage with pieces of bread for lunch he announced in the document Every two to three days they receive a spoonful of jam and occasionally a small cucumber or tomato The prison does not serve dinner Mohammed also recounted the night of his detention He explained Israeli soldiers burst into his home blindfolded him and zip-tied his hands before hauling him into a military motorcycle where he lay flat on its metal surface as soldiers beat him with the butts of their rifles At the Ofer military base the beating continued he recalled Mohammed then informed of being taken to a police station where a masked interrogator threatened to instruct soldiers to beat him again if he didn t comply Out of sheer fear I ultimately confessed he reported in the testimony It breaks my heart to say that his affair is not exceptional Such details have begun to spark the outrage of multiple in Washington and across the world Advocates for imprisoned Palestinians who have been following the matter were disturbed by the alleged abuse Mohammed has suffered at the hands of the Israeli military But perhaps what has troubled advocates bulk about Mohammed s situation is how familiar it sounds It breaks my heart to say that his situation is not exceptional reported Miranda Cleland an advocate with DCIP His event is so similar to what we ve heard from so plenty of Palestinian children and families not just in the last two years but in the last years this is exactly how the Israeli military targets Palestinian children and their families A boy displays a leaflet dropped by an Israeli drone near Ofer Prison where Palestinian prisoners were set to be disclosed in the West Bank city of Beitunia on Oct The leaflet written in Arabic reads We are watching you everywhere If you express any help for or affiliation with a terrorist organization you will expose yourself to arrest and severe penalties You have been warned Photo Majdi Mohammed AP Since Israel began its military occupation of the West Bank in indefinite detentions have been a tool used to control Palestinians Palestinians are subject to military law and military courts where prosecutors and judges are Israeli soldiers and Palestinians lack due process rights United Nations experts last July called for the dismantling of Israel s military court system saying that it violates humanitarian international law and cannot be improved They criticized the role of military judges providing legal and judicial cover for acts of torture cruel and degrading healing against Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers and police The experts specifically mentioned their concern that such practices extend to children The Israeli military declined to comment for this story referring to the Israeli Prison Utility The IPS and Israeli police did not respond to The Intercept s request for comment The Israeli military court system prosecutes as plenty of as children each year with a conviction rate of around percent according to DCIP The the greater part common charge against Palestinian children in the military court system like Mohammed s situation is throwing a rock Nearly all of the convictions development from a plea deal which is often the only chance a child has toward being circulated It s a collective punishment because it s also against the family in order to intimidate Since Hamas attacked Israel on October delays in trials and hearings have been increasingly common in military court and plea deals have been harder to come by with prosecutors pursuing more aggressive sentencing stated Sahar Francis a Palestinian human rights attorney who has decades of experience representing Palestinians in Israel s military courts Before the outbreak of Israel s war on Gaza she stated children in similar situations as Mohammed would typically be published on bail and would spend around four to five months in prison Children are now regularly held for longer periods During her -year career Francis came to realize a pattern Even in cases where children throwing rocks didn t cause any harm prosecutors would pursue lengthy sentences Meanwhile she noted cases where Israeli children threw rocks at Palestinians went unpunished There is a huge discrimination plan and it s intentional they know they can affect the whole generation Francis stated This is why we are saying it s a collective punishment because it s also against the family in order to intimidate in order to cause fear within other children that you could be arrested you could be punished Related How Ahed Tamimi Became the Symbol of Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Oppression In and the Israeli executive enacted a slew of laws to further criminalize stone throwing including harsher sentences and fines as well as permission for police to fire live ammunition at individuals throwing stones including minors if officers believe the stones pose a danger to anyone In its press releases and citizens statements the Israeli cabinet regularly labels Palestinians who throw rocks as terrorists even during protests against illegal Israeli settlements that are often guarded by heavily armored military units Throwing stones carries both a tactical and symbolic significance to Palestinian resistance illustrated by the emblematic photo of a Palestinian woman in Beit Sahour throwing stones at Israeli soldiers with one hand while carrying her yellow heels in another during the First Intifada in the s Another image captured during the Second Intifada in shows -year-old Palestinian boy Faris Odeh throwing a stone at an Israeli tank The following day an Israeli soldier fatally shot Odeh in the neck as he protested the military transforming Odeh into an international symbol of Palestinian resistance An Israeli military charge sheet obtained by the family and reviewed by The Intercept accuses Mohammed of throwing stones toward Israeli vehicles that were traveling on Highway near the Israeli settlement of Kochav Hashachar One of the stones the military alleged struck and damaged the conveyance The document stated that the stones endangered the lives of the drivers The charge sheet cited a military patrol unit that had broadcasted stone-throwing incidents in the area and mentioned that an Israeli bicycle driven by an Israeli settler was damaged Since there have been no court proceedings in Mohammed Ibrahim s episode it s unclear whether the Israeli military has evidence to back its charges He and his family reject Israel s charges The military leveled the charges following an interrogation with masked armed soldiers and no attorney present which advocates explained is a common practice for detained children According to footage of the interrogation obtained by The Intercept Mohammed sat alone at a table on a swiveling chair with a blindfold lowered to his neck He spoke to an interrogator who was outside the frame Video of a separate interrogation with another child implicated in the development shows the interrogators are masked In the six-minute video which The Intercept translated from Arabic the interrogator prompts Mohammed to Tell me everything you did and say it specifically At times the interrogator seems to feed him lines stating Tell me I went down and I ate me and my friends at p m we walked we got into a car Mohammed responds by saying he and his friends ate and then went for a walk down toward a highway referred to as Iltifafy The highway is known as a road specific to Israelis that connects Israeli settlements throughout the occupied West Bank slicing through and effectively dividing Palestinian towns While there he says they started striking The interrogator referring to the distinct license plate colors yellow or white that denote Israeli and Palestinian identity asks if they saw cars for the Arabs and cars for the Jews Mohammed acknowledges he did When the interrogator presses further Mohammed says he and his friends began to throw rocks at any cars as horseplay When requested why he says We just did it We requested to try What if your parents were driving by They d throw it at them the interrogator continues to press Mohammed says yes and that they were not able to see who was driving the cars At one point Mohammed admits to blindly throwing a rock toward the road from far away but says that the stone didn t hit anyone or anything It just landed on the street The interrogator exclaims But you threw one I mean I threw a rock wherever it would land it would land Mohammed responds The video ends with the interrogator questioning where Mohammed was that morning asleep and where he was on that Friday at work DCIP s Cleland criticized the forceful nature of the interrogation and lack of due process rights Mohammed Ibrahim was subjected to a very coercive interrogation she reported adding that the practice is common in cases of detained children and all interrogations are designated to extract a confession The short video does not corroborate Mohammed s claim in his testimony that an interrogator ordered soldiers to beat him if he didn t comply Read our complete coverage Israel s War on Gaza For decades Palestinians in detention have routinely broadcasted poor living conditions abuse and even instances of torture Since October such abuse grew in scale becoming a more systematic strategy of collective punishment according to human rights advocates as well as a newest Israeli court ruling acknowledging forced starvation in detention centers Due to threats of violence from Israeli officials plenty of children have been afraid to speak about their abuse after their release advocates reported Despite these threats child prisoners have shared abuse torture and sexual assault suggests that echo reports by adult detainees One teenager from Jenin published as part of the November ceasefire agreement recalled beatings that broke his fingers in both hands Medicine against both adults and children from Gaza were especially brutal Francis the human rights attorney reported Children from Gaza spoke of having their hands continually shackled for consecutive months Others from Gaza recounted Francis they were beaten and sexually assaulted by Israeli soldiers who shoved batons up their anuses through their clothes Lots of the prisoners described for me in the visits that they feel they are animals Francis disclosed They were saying We believe they treat their pets in their homes better than us Related Prisoners Propaganda and the Battle Over the Gaza War Narrative Pinning down exactly how multiple Palestinian children are in Israeli custody is intricate The official count could be lower given the release of several children back to Gaza as part of the latest ceasefire agreement the Israeli Prison Function has also delayed its quarterly release of updated figures That figure is likely an undercount since an unknown number of Palestinian children along with adults are presumed to be imprisoned within Israel s military facilities such as the notorious Sde Teiman Unlike the facilities under the Israeli Prison Institution the military does not share information on Palestinians held inside its military bases Newly freed Palestinians including children are also commonly re-arrested within weeks of their release Throughout the war families from Gaza have communicated witnessing their relatives detained by Israeli soldiers only to be advised later by Israeli authorities that their relatives are not in custody Last November Israel-based human rights organization HaMoked documented of such cases of missing Palestinians What is the fate of these hundreds we don t know mentioned Naji Abbas an advocate for Palestinian detainees with Physicians for Human Rights Israel referring to the missing names Sadly we believe largest part are not alive At least Palestinians have died within Israeli prisons since October according to a tally of publicly released cases by the United Nations In the weeks since the U N count three more Palestinians have died in Israeli custody Due to lack of access to hygiene products and overcrowding scabies has spread rapidly throughout Israel s prisons Abbas and journalists have accused Israeli prison executives of allowing the highly contagious skin infection to spread unabated throughout its facilities as another form of punishment The affection spread by microscopic mites that burrow into skin causes extreme itchiness and can lead to psychological distress from lack of sleep as well as injury from scratching A court petition filed by PHRI along with other organizations in July led to biological restoration given to particular incarcerated Palestinians But without changes to their living conditions reinfection is rampant When a U S embassy official notified Zaher that Mohammed had contracted scabies in July his family began to fear for his life The IPS stated that he had received healing for the illness and was placed in curative isolation for days before manifestations had subsided But memories of new prisoner deaths fed their concern In March Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad a -year-old Palestinian from Brazil died in Megiddo Prison the same prison where Mohammaed was held at the time He was the first known child to die within Israel s prison system since October Walid was arrested in September in a village neighboring Mohammed s and was held in administrative detention without charges While spending time outside of his cell Walid collapsed in the prison yard hit his head and died According to an independent autopsy conducted by a specialist and Abbas s organization which was granted after PHRI requested a court intervention Walid demonstrated signs of scabies across his entire body as well as signs of severe weight loss and malnutrition The medical professional detected that Walid a former athlete and soccer participant had little to no muscle mass left on him Abbas announced Physiological records noted Walid had been complaining about lack of food and being hungry for three months leading up to his death Whether you are beating people until death or denying people who you are holding in custody from anatomical care you are killing them Abbas disclosed On July a man tidies the graves of Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet left and Mohammed al-Shalabi both of whom were killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank town of Al Mazra as-Sharqiya Photo Maya Alleruzzo AP Since family visits and phone calls have been prohibited in Israeli detention facilities another post-October measure Mohammed s family haven t heard their child s voice since he was taken in February Instead for information about Mohammed s well-being the family has relied on attorneys and the U S Embassy On rare occasions attorneys and U S embassy representatives have been allowed to visit Mohammed who was at the time of his detention and spent his th birthday in prison In the visits they announced that Mohammed has lost at least pounds One healthcare account provided by the IPS to the U S Embassy and reviewed by The Intercept noted Mohammed as having a low body mass index Mohammed has lost at least pounds Every month and a half Mohammed has a scheduled court date Each time prosecutors postpone the hearings Even so his family has attended every one hoping to catch a glimpse of Mohammed through the CCTV cameras fixed onto a holding cell During a hearing in August Mohammed s older brother along with the mothers of the three other children detained alongside Mohammed in their village watched the monitor as their sons shuffled into the holding cell The mothers didn t recognize their children all of them with shaved heads and skinny bodies They were shocked when they saw Mohammed While sitting in the cell Mohammed noticed the camera and raised his cuffed hands toward the lens to reveal his arms covered in rashes and scabs His face was gaunt and dark rings encircled his eyes family explained Mohammed s brother returned home shaken before sharing his condition with his parents and uncle That same month his parents were able to pass Mohammed a message through the embassy official assuring him that they were doing everything they can to free him He responded by asking whether his older sister had passed her final exams needed to graduate high school After the official narrated him yes he revealed to tell his father to buy a gold necklace as a gift for his sister and that he would work to pay him back once he gets out Other messages remain undelivered Mohammed s family have yet to tell him about the killing of his cousin Sayfollah Musallet who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on July He had been trying to protect his family s land from the mob of settlers his family noted The mob prevented an ambulance from reaching him and his younger brother eventually carried him to paramedics but he died before making it to the hospital A tight-knit family Mohammed and Sayfollah were close Sayfollah had been visiting family in the occupied West Bank processing the ongoing detention of his cousin The pair had planned to spend the summer working together at the family s ice cream shop Ice Screamin in Tampa Florida Sayfollah had managed the shop after his family bought it one year earlier introducing a popular Dubai chocolate sundae to the menu Zaher required the news of his passing to come from a family member or family friend not through the lips of a third-party official or attorney Back in the U S Kadur Zaher s cousin is careful how he describes Mohammed s plight He is cautious not to frame the push for Mohammed s release within the context of the Israeli occupation He s aware of how polarizing the issue may be while lobbying a U S cabinet that has remained a staunch supporter of Israel even as it commits genocide in Gaza Kadur received a call from a concerned rabbi from Florida who lamented It s just sad that if his name was closer to mine he ostensibly wouldn t be there Instead Kadur has attempted to appeal to authorities from a more human and humanitarian perspective We can t resolve a -year conflict he stated this is just a -year-old kid that demands to come home Related American Nurse Who Tried to Save No Other Land Activist Was Detained and Deported by Israel Despite what the family says were private promises from Trump administration personnel they have yet to lead to signs of progress toward Mohammed s release It illustrates the limitations of the expected privileges U S citizenship affords particularly if you are Palestinian and especially if you are on Israeli soil Among those who called the family to intervene is longtime diplomat Richard Grenell a former Bush administration adviser who has been Trump s envoy for special missions who was key in securing the release of six American prisoners from Venezuela in January Since the initial call however the family commented they have not heard of progress After Sayfollah s killing U S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited their family in their village of al-Mazra a ash-Sharqiya known as Miami of the West Bank due to its large population of American Palestinians who own land there often building luxurious homes Also at the hourlong meeting was Mohammed s family along with the family of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar a -year-old Palestinian American from New Orleans who was fatally shot by Israeli settlers military and police in January He was the first American killed in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza The parents of Tawfic and Sayfollah reported Huckabee that while their children are dead the U S can still bring Mohammed home Zaher and Kadur recalled Our family our village our city can t take another American funeral here Sayfollah s father added according to Kadur Huckabee stated the group that he would also contact Israeli executives to help free Mohammed according to Zaher and Kadur Israeli officers have yet to make an arrest or charge any individuals in the killing of Sayfollah or Tawfic And Zaher announced he s begun to give up hope that the U S establishment would intervene on behalf of Mohammed Related Trump s Gaza Ceasefire Deal Is Already Failing Palestinians A State Department spokesperson recounted The Intercept that it is tracking Mr Ibrahim s incident closely and working with the governing body of Israel on this situation and commented it is providing consular assistance to Mohammed and his family The department declined to comment further on what actions they have taking in trying to free Mohammed citing privacy and other considerations With much of the focus on ensuring the ceasefire deal holds in Gaza Rubio briefly addressed Mohammed s matter during a press conference in Israel saying that they are working through their embassy and diplomatic channels The U S regime is just closing their eyes Zaher stated If this happened in Venezuela Trump would ostensibly send a warship just because he wants to attack it anyway But when it comes to the Palestinian cause they close their eyes and they laugh They just close the phone they act like they care then they forget about it In a sign of increasing pressure Tuesday s letter by Democratic lawmakers to both Rubio and Huckabee called on the State Department to begin engaging the Israeli ruling body directly to secure the swift release of this American boy Signatories included Sens Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley who also visited Mohammed s family in the West Bank Mohammed s U S representative Kathy Castor who has been in regular contact with his family and prominent senators including Adam Schiff Raphael Warnock and Bernie Sanders There is little precedence for the U S applying pressure to compel an early release of a Palestinian American imprisoned by Israel If an individual faces charges typically the only way to be published is to take a plea deal from military prosecutors and serve a reduced sentence mentioned DCIP s Cleland Back in the West Bank Zaher continues to text the U S Embassy everyday asking for updates he watches the news and scours the internet for any sign of other viable releases Zaher explained he s been losing track of time Days without his son have felt like months He disclosed he misses Mohammed s quiet presence describing him as sweet and gentle and a family boy Like multiple his age he spent much of his time playing Fortnite or watching soccer his unit is Real Madrid Mohammed also loves photography and spent his weekends working part-time at a coffee shop When you talk about eight months of every day trying something and you don t get nowhere you re just hopeless Zaher disclosed Mohammed s next court date is scheduled for October His family has little faith prosecutors will really hold the hearing but they plan to attend Zaher explained he and his wife know the routine well Waiting at the courthouse at times as long as hours only for the judge to announce that the hearing is postponed But if that means a chance to spot Mohammed through the CCTV monitor it will have been worth it We ll waste the whole day he disclosed but we go there just so one of us can see him for that seconds The post This -Year-Old American Is Among Hundreds of Palestinian Children Jailed in Israel appeared first on The Intercept
