News

State Department says it has ‘raised’ Abu Rahmah case with Israelis…

We have just learned that Matthew Lee of AP again raised the Abdallah Abu Rahmah case this afternoon at the State Department, and the following dialogue ensued, with Ass’t Sec’y P.J. Crowley:

Crowley: We have raised this case with the Israeli government. We continue to follow developments in this case, as well as other cases of West Bank Palestinian protesters who have been arrested and tried on a variety of charges. We are aware that, in this particular case of Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, the case is under appeal, and our embassy regularly raises human rights issues as appropriate and with regard to specific cases with the government of Israel.

¶ QUESTION: OK. When you said that you’ve raised it with the Israelis, can you be more specific? What have you said?

¶ CROWLEY: We’ve discussed the case with the Israeli government. I’ll leave it there.

¶ QUESTION: OK. And did this happen before or after you started getting questions about it?

¶ CROWLEY: Before.

¶ QUESTION: And so then what was the — what was the problem with saying this when it was originally raised?

¶ CROWLEY: I finally got the information I needed.

15 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments