Youth holding a photo of Othman at the weekly protest against the Wall in Nil’in.
Here is an update on the case of Mohammad Othman, a Palestinian human rights activist who was detained over three weeks ago by Israel as he returned home from Norway where he had been discussing the boycott, divestment and sanction movement.
On Thursday, October 8, at the second hearing in Salem military court, the prosecution had still not been able to provide any charges against Mohammad. The judge prolonged Mohammad’s detention for a further 12 days. Addameer attorneys appealed this decision and the judge rescheduled the date for the hearing for this wednesday, 14 October 2009. The hearing is due to take place at the Military Court of Appeals in Ofer.
According to Addameer attorneys who represent Mohammad, he is still held in solitary confinement and is being interrogated daily about his trips to Europe and contacts with European organizations. Mohammad has been repeatedly cursed at during long interrogation sessions, which at times lasted from 8:00 am until midnight. However, in neither of these sessions were suspicions against Mohammad made clear to him and he still ignores the reason for his arrest. During one of these sessions, an Israeli interrogator threatened to hurt Mohammad’s sister. “Stop the Wall Campaign” contends that psychological pressure is an often used Israeli technique to coerce a detainee into confessions.
During his solitary confinement Mohammad has been held in a two-square meter windowless cell. You can follow Mohammad’s case on this website and sign the Jewish Voice for Peace petition demanding his release here.
Also, if you’re in New York you can join Adalah-NY and the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel on Saturday October 17th, 1- 3 PM for a protest in support of Mohammad at Lev Leviev’s store in Manhattan. You can find more information on the protest here.
A petition to Obama – might as well petition a sack of tissue paper.
A petition to the Norwegians – Israel won’t speak to them.
Take Othman’s case to the Israel courts – the IDF will ignore their ruling.
Take his case to the UN – Israel will denounce the ruling as anti-Semitic.
The triumph of Israeli fascism is pretty well complete.
Witty, this is your Israel at work. This is what your Zionism is.
The first two posts on this link are surely true blue, and yet…
I see the hope in the eyes of the youth holding the photo. His humanity and strength, and that of others like him, will outlast the oppression and subjugation. You see, Witty, it is his people who now hold the covenant with God.
FPM
Don’t even directly address Witty.
We’ve had this discussion many times over the course of the history of the blog.
Witty is a liar. Not blind, not misguided w/ good intentions, no – he is a polite fascist.
Just like that Rabbi who was smug about excluding Palestinian solidarity and anti-Occupation groups from an anti-Iraq War rally years back.
These are Jewish Zionists – not just Zionist – but Jewish Zionist. They are Jewish exceptionalists.
Double standards along ethnic and religious lines are the theme. The main characteristic.
They are phony. And I’ll tell you one thing, it makes all their activism MEANINGLESS.
I’m not talking about reports on human rights abuses. That’s another issue.
I’m talking about the lame, trite, ‘Judaism is about social justice’ meme amongst Jewish liberals. It’s a farce. Where are these hippies now? Oh wait, it’s the Jewish State we’re talking about. Even artists like Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan.
This conflict is the most revealing of our morality and ethics and courage.
It shows who is afraid of social norms and who questions them.
I’m sick of giving people partial-credit. Especially Jews. Naomi Klein is a good example. She got into this activism late and all of a sudden she’s in the paper, she’s being asked to speak on DemocracyNow! It’s such bullshit. Where are the Palestinian voices? Same thing w/ Finkelstein. I like him too, but he’s made out to be a messiah. Especially by a lot of Palestinian solidarity groups. I guess it shows you how kind the Palestinians who are resisting non-violently, are. They welcome these people. These people – who are like tourists!
Didn’t Medea Benjamin and CodePink also get involved late?
Cliff you are wrong on so many levels. These are people whose families were decimated in the holocaust and saw that the survivors found a home in Palestine that they renamed Israel. The fortunate ones ended up in the US or comfortably in other Western countries. They all to one degree or anther have experienced survivors guilt. The emotional bonds to Israel are intense. At the same time they have observed that Israel has become a racist colonial enterprise. This latter aspect conflicts deeply with the traditional progressive and humanitarian values that they were raised with. The important thing today is that many of these Jews are realizing that the reality of Israel does in fact conflict with their basic human values. We should welcome and applaud this change even if some of you think they should have done so sooner. I still think that Witty is well meaning but that his basic problem is that he lacks the intellectual and emotional tools to resolve this basic contradiction between Israeli reality and the ideals of the traditional progressive Jewish culture.
Syvanen, Cliff is not wrong (except for the “They are phony”, and some excess in language). Neither are you wrong. You simply have different subjective perspectives on a complex matter (i.e., what people can be expected to do about Israel’s crimes). For my part, I agree with both of you – from my own subjective perspective.
I understand Cliff’s frustration with the political Left, and your desire to explain the tardiness of many of them in doing the right thing. At least some of those whom Cliff mentioned are acting now, and that’s more than most people can say.
I wonder what percentage of abused children break the cycle as adults, as compared
to those who continue such abuse.
I agree with Call Me Ishmael. Cliff is not wrong. And neither are you.
Perhaps Israel will now demand to release Othman in exchange for Shalit.
A Story of Betrayal – by Uri Avnery
link to zope.gush-shalom.org
Most people, I suppose, look on Israel as an anachronism, a vestige of 19th-century European colonialism gone berserk, which through its own vices will wither and die someday.
But what if Israel represents the future of humankind? As living space (Lebensraum) contracts, and resources – arable land, water, fuel – become ever scarcer, will political dominions fragment into smaller “national” entities based on ethnic, racial, or religious identities?
With the fruits of technology – advanced weapons systems and industrial engines of “prosperity” – unequally distributed among these pygmy regimes, will the stronger amongst them devour the weaker next door, as the Israelis devour the Palestinians and maybe one day will devour the Lebanon and Jordan? Will the stronger mini-peoples control and rule over all aspects of the lives of the weaker, driven by fanatical expressions of group identity and existential fears of extinction?
As the world economy shrinks and the present international order of nation states breaks down, who’s to say the Israel model will not become the norm? And from there, a slow descent back to the law of the jungle.
It looks like the EU is doing the contrary–all it needs now is the Czech vote.
Funny how I, an American who lived much of his life in Europe, have always looked with trepidation on the process of European economic and political unification. I dread the weakening and perhaps loss of the individual, unique cultures of the “mini-peoples” across the continent I grew to love so much. While at the same time understanding the inexorable logic of unification under CURRENT (or recently past) world-wide economic and political conditions.
don’t expect much from a country that does this:
“There is nothing against you. But there is no innocent person here. So, you should confess to something so you can be charged and sentenced and serve your sentence and then go back to your family and country, because you will not leave this place innocent.”
which country is that? why, it’s the USA.
link to timesonline.co.uk
so don’t expect he USA to condemn israel on the Mohammad Othman case. as they say two birds of a feather torture together.
When was it ever any ugly-different down there in the holy lands?
link to en.wikipedia.org
The Holy Land is an indescribably wonderful place, though some people come in and only see the surface level, or never visit at all and just comment from afar. Anyone who’s spent enough time here understands why outsiders covet this land, and why the locals are willing to sacrifice so much to defend it.
Mohammad is a friend of mine, and he knows he’s putting his life, freedom, and family on the line whenever he speaks out about his people’s situation. He deserves more respect than I know how to give. I hope he’s out soon. It literally gives me nightmares to imagine him in that dungeon night after night.
link to
What, no Witty? No surprise, huh.