Mohammad Othman, the BDS campaigner who was detained by Israel upon returning from a speaking tour in Norway, was given three months administrative detention yesterday in an Israeli military court. Othman had been held 61 days without charge before the court agreed to the prosecution’s request for administrative dentention. Othman has been under nearly constant interrogation during this time.
Administrative detention is a common tool Israel uses to suppress Palestinian dissent. It is an open ended sentence that is commonly extended with little transparency or justification. From B’Tselem:
Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial, authorized by administrative order rather than by judicial decree. It is allowed under international law, but, because of the serious injury to due process rights inherent in this measure and the obvious danger of abuse, international law has placed rigid restrictions on its application. Administrative detention is intended to prevent the danger posed to state security by a particular individual. Israel, however, has never defined the criteria for what constitutes "state security."
This last point is the important one. How does Othman threathen state security? Mya Guarnieri provides one possible answer an a recent article for Ma’an News titled "Is Israel threatened by the BDS movement?" Guarnieri quotes Middle East analyst Arthur Nelsen:
"The Othman case indicates a fear of the BDS movement among Israel’s political and security elite, particularly when it has the ear of foreign governments."
Nelsen adds, "Locking up nonviolent opponents suggests a stunning lack of confidence among Israel’s leaders in their ability to argue their case, still less win it. It bears all the hallmarks of an authoritarian campaign to silence nonviolent critics of the occupation."
It doesn’t “bear all the hallmarks of an authoritarian campaign…”, it IS “an authoritarian campaign to silence nonviolent critics of the occupation.”
I have looked into the purchase BDS.com/org/net to dedicate the domain name as a central clearing house for information on the disparate BDS movements. dotcom and dotorg are currently being used, and this is the response I received on dotnet
Hi marc,
Thank you for your interest in the domain name, bds.net.
bds.net is currently valued: $84400
A bit rich for my blood unfortunately.
Not to introduce too much levity to a serious topic, but the initials “BDS” have significance in the, ahem, adult entertainment industry. That probably explains the price tag.
I wouldn’t know anything about that. I’m Catholic. The only ‘adult entertainment’ that I’ve experienced was brief, unpleasant and strictly for procreative purposes. bds.com is a software site, and bds.org is a password protected site, perhaps for the discretion of the denizens of the bds community, whatever that may be.
Yeah, Chaos — what is the significance of “BDS” in the, ahem, adult entertainment industry? Can you give a hint?
It’s usually BDSM
Bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism. Sometimes the D is referred to “discipline”, and sometimes the S is referred to as “submission”.
Okay, thanks tree, I actually should have known that. BD slash SM. Boycotts, Divestments, Sanctions and M . . . Need an M word. Mondoweiss?
RE: “It’s usually BDSM”
MY COMMENT: They don’t call me the ‘Mad Marquis’ for nuttin! (Just kidding, of course)
link to bdsmovement.net
is the website of the global BDS movement and serves as a “a central clearing house for information on the disparate BDS movements.”
Also provides an ‘M’ for the giggle fest going on here in the comment section.
democracies don’t operate this way… fascist gov’ts do though….
“Othman had been held 63 days without charge before the court agreed to the prosecution’s request for administrative dentention. Othman has been under nearly constant interrogation during this time.
Administrative detention is a common tool Israel uses to suppress Palestinian dissent. It is an open ended sentence that is commonly extended with little transparency or justification. “
I’ve contacted Amnesty on Othman’s behalf.
Where’s the European governments Othman was talking to? Why aren’t they condemning this illegal action in the strongest terms possible?
For years the hasbara have been taunting us with ‘where is the Palestinian Ghandi’. I didn’t understand why they would advocate for such a political movement because nonviolence is the one weapon the Palestinians could use to drive the Israeli out of the WB. I am sure more sensible Israelis know this also and they will try to destroy or discredit any such movement. Well we are now seeing the beginning of an Israeli response.
We should expect worse. I suspect legal framing against participants and maybe even the use of agent provocateurs performing acts of violence against Israelis. Recall Israel bankrolled Hamas in the beginning to undermine Palestinian unity. I am sure that the military minds that rule Israel consider the thousand or so Israelis killed by the suicide bombers as a small price to pay for all of the political benefits they accrued from those acts of terror. Already, these criminals are probably pining away for the good old days of the second intifada.
The BDS movement will grow and eventually it will have its Bernadine Dohrn moment, as an attempt is made to split the leadership. (Dohrn and the other assorted nuts in ‘The Weathermen’ effectively crippled the SDS.) That’s why it’s so important to have as broad a base as possible, with all due respect to the energy and commitment of the new generation of giants.
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