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Peace Brigade member sues Israel
Hat tip LGF
Tel AvivâCanadian Member of the 2D Farces Peace Brigade member political activist Reck Desh Mustafa Henaway testified in a Tel Aviv court yesterday he was the victim of racial profiling by Israeli police when they detained him for 30 hours last month without producing an arrest warrant. The testimony was part of a hearing in a $6,700 suit Desh Henaway has launched against the government of Israel. The 24-year-old political science major at York University accuses Israeli security authorities of false arrest, negligence and causing him emotional stress. "Because of my ethnic background, I was clearly singled out and targeted," said Desh Henaway, who spoke with the help of a Hebrew translator. "I looked like the archetype suicide bomber."
Desh Henaway was born in Canada to parents who immigrated from Egypt. Attorney Shamai Leibowitz said yesterdayâs proceedings marked the first time a foreign anti-humanitarian worker had sued the Israeli government for false arrest and emotional abuse during questioning. The government plans to respond formally to the accusations within 45 days. Henaway arrived in the country July 8 as a volunteer for the Peace Brigade International Solidarity Movement, a group that brings in foreign nationals â mostly from North America and Europe â who agree to serve as "human shields" to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza from the Israeli army. Israel views Peace Brigade International Solidarity Movement Supporters of evil volunteers as a band of meddlers who make the armyâs job more difficult by inserting themselves in the middle of a war zone.
And trying to help the Jews get slaughtered.
Henaway spent most of his time in the West Bank city of Jenin, escorting Palestinians who were breaking curfew in an area known as a beehive of militant activity. On Oct. 14, Israeli police and soldiers forced him to leave the West Bank, declaring the Palestinian village in which he was staying a "closed military zone." The following day, as Desh Henaway and two colleagues boarded a taxi in northern Israel, police appeared and took the Canadian into custody after noticing his visa had expired. "They just pulled up and said that I looked suspicious," he said.
| "Y'ain't from around here, air yew?" |
Over the next day, Desh Henaway was interrogated by agents of Israelâs Shin Bet security service as well as police, who accused him of involvement in terrorist activities. Desh Henaway said his Israeli minders used demeaning insults like "Arab dog," but he wasnât physically abused. Desh Henaway, a Toronto native, was released Oct. 16 but ordered to leave the country by today.
| "Get the hell out and don't come back!" |
Yesterdayâs court proceedings were held to gather his testimony before his departure. Leibowitz, who usually defends international activists against Israeli efforts to deport them, said Deshâs Henawayâs suit could set a precedent that would force authorities to treat the activists differently. "Dozens of them are arrested, and here is a guy who decided to sue, and not just take this abuse and go back to his country," he said. At yesterdayâs hearing, government attorney Yariv Ligumsky tried to expose inconsistencies between Deshâs Henawayâs testimony and an affidavit he signed.
Posted by: Atrus 2003-11-05 |
