It’s been more than 500 days since Amnesty International staffer Laith Abu Zeyad has left the boundaries of the occupied West Bank, due to an Israeli ban based on secret evidence. “It’s absurd that me and my lawyers are being forced to defend myself and argue against secret evidence that we have not even seen ourselves,” Abu Zeyad told Mondoweiss after the court hearing on April 6th. “The judge said the onus was on us to challenge the evidence, but we don’t even know what it is.”
Since September 2019, the Israeli government has banned Laith Abu Zeyad from traveling outside the West Bank based on secret evidence they will not share with him. Due to this ban he was not able to travel with his mother for medical treatment in Jerusalem, or be with her when she passed away. Writing in Mondoweiss, Abu Zeyad reflects on having this ban and secret evidence indefinitely hanging over him – a prisoner in his own land, he dreams of freedom.
Politico reports that the Trump administration might soon declare that number of prominent human rights organizations as antisemitic and discourage other governments from supporting them, all due to these organizations’ alleged support for the BDS movement.
It’s been nine months since Laith Abu Zeyad, an Amnesty International staff member based in the occupied West Bank, was banned from traveling outside of the country and from entering Israel. After months of rejected petitions, unanswered questions, and painstaking delays, Abu Zeyad is finally getting his day in court — even if he is not allowed to be there.
Tom Friedman’s double standard: Israel has a right to shoot demonstrators because that’s how Arab nations behave; but Iran doesn’t. Human rights groups have said Israel deliberately targeted civilians with live fire on the Gaza border though they posed no threat; but Friedman says it’s an “easy” call to defend those shootings.
A new Amnesty International report titled “Destination: Occupation” examines how Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor are “contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law.”
After nearly two months of arbitrary detention, brutal interrogations, a hunger strike, and sexual harassment, 31-year-old Suha Jbara is expected to be released from Palestinian Authority custody in the next two days. Jbara, a Palestinian activist with American and Panamanian citizenship, was arrested by PA security forces on November 3rd over accusations that she collected and distributed money through “illegal methods,” a claim herself and her family vehemently deny. Her father spoke to Mondoweiss about the “nightmare” that his daughter and family have experienced over the past two months.
Israeli border authorities on Monday denied entry to Raed Jarrar, an American citizen and the advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA. Jarrar was on his way his way to be with family and grieve the recent death of his father, but was instead turned back to Jordan, as Israeli authorities refused to allow him entry. In a statement released by Amnesty condemning the denial, the group said Jarrar’s refusal was a “retaliation against the organization’s human rights work.” Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Ministry told local media that Jarrar, whose family is originally Palestinian, was denied on a personal basis due to his alleged “BDS activities.”
Amnesty International USA Executive Director Steven Hawkins sent a letter to Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden suggesting questions she ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu including, “Why is Israel engaging in unlawful killings of Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories?”