Mohammed Ibrahim is a kid growing up in Florida, United States. He has family in the West Bank, Palestine. This past February he took a vacation to go visit them. While he was visiting, Israeli soldiers raided the family's home, blindfolded him, forced him into a vehicle, beat him with the butt of a rifle during transport, and held him captive in an Israeli military prison.
He was arrested and detained with no trial. An investigation into the detention of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) found that about 75% were subjected to physical violence following their arrest and that over 85% were not even given a reason for their arrest. His birthday was in March, and he turned 16 behind bars. Like many children detained in Israel, he has been held in a cold cell, physically abused, and denied adequate food and healthcare. His relatives report that Mohammed lost a quarter of his body weight and contracted scabies. As of writing, he is still incarcerated and unable to speak to his parents.
In July, Mohammed's cousin Sayfollah Musallet (also a US citizen living in Florida who visited their family in the West Bank) was beaten to death by Israeli settlers. Mohammed's family has been working for months with advocacy groups, pleading to get the US government to defend their own citizens from Israel.
Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel program at the Arab Center Washington DC said of this case, “The US government simply does not care about Palestinians with US citizenship who are killed or unjustly detained by Israel. Our government is not unaware of these cases. They are themselves complicit. In many cases where Palestinian Americans have been killed, the government does nothing. This is not unique to the Trump administration.”
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The document describes Israel’s case against Mohammed Ibrahim but omits key details about his treatment
Joseph Gedeon at The Guardian:
The Israeli embassy in Washington has been circulating a letter on Capitol Hill defending its nine-month detention of a 16-year-old US citizen in military prison as pressure mounts from senators and civil society groups who have called for his release.
The document, obtained by the Guardian, describes Israel’s allegations against Mohammed Ibrahim and the medical treatment he has allegedly received in prison. It does not mention his dramatic weight loss or the fact that his family has had virtually no contact with him since his arrest in February.
Ibrahim, a dual Palestinian American teenager from Florida, has been charged with two counts of throwing objects at moving vehicles.
It is unclear how many congressional offices the letter had reached, but comes after 27 Democratic lawmakers last month wrote to Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and to the US ambassador to Israel expressing “grave concern” over Ibrahim’s treatment. The letter also circulated ahead of a scheduled 9 November court hearing in Ibrahim case, which has been postponed to mid-December.
The Israeli embassy did not respond to questions about the letter.
The embassy letter asserts that Ibrahim “threw rocks at vehicles belonging to Israeli citizens” and cites his confession during interrogation the night of his arrest on 16 February. The document does not mention that Ibrahim later wrote in a sworn affidavit: “The interrogator threatened that if I did not comply, he would instruct the soldiers to beat me. Out of sheer fear, I ultimately confessed.”
No lawyer or legal guardian appeared to be present, according to a video of the interrogation seen by the Guardian in July.
“As is often the case with information from the Netanyahu government, this letter deals in half-truths and is missing critical facts,” said Chris Van Hollen, a US senator from Maryland. “It must be the priority of the US government to secure the release of this American boy.”
The embassy claims Ibrahim “has been under weekly BMI monitoring”; has been examined by doctors 10 times; and was treated for scabies. A prison medical report on 22 April recorded him as having “low BMI” after losing roughly a quarter of his body weight, according to the family.
Ibrahim’s family have said they have had no direct contact with him since his detention began.
The Guardian was first to report on Ibrahim’s detention and condition in mid-July, and later that month reported new details about his double-digit weight loss and scabies diagnosis, which were revealed through state department correspondence, appeals to congressional representatives and family interviews. In August, more than 100 US human rights, faith-based and civil rights organizations sent a letter to Rubio demanding Ibrahim’s immediate release.
In their letter, the lawmakers demanded a response by 3 November detailing what efforts the Trump administration has made to secure his release, and noted that “no evidence has been publicly provided” to support the rock-throwing allegations.
The Israeli embassy letter states that court delays have occurred because Ibrahim’s defense attorney requested time to negotiate a plea agreement with prosecutors, while the family said in a statement to the Guardian they “hired a new lawyer as show of good faith” who needs proper time to review nine months of detention. An Israeli official separately told the Guardian that “the defense hasn’t been engaging at all, but instead has been running a political pressure campaign on the Israeli government”.
The document confirms Ibrahim has been held in military detention without a completed trial for nine months. He was initially detained at Megiddo prison before being transferred to Ofer prison in August. Israeli media reported in 2011 that 99.74% of military court cases end in conviction.
