I was born in Poonch (Kashmir) and now I live in Norway. I oppose war and violence and am a firm believer in the peaceful co-existence of all nations and peoples. In my academic work I have tried to espouse the cause of the weak and the oppressed in a world dominated by power politics, misleading propaganda and violations of basic human rights. I also believe that all conscious members of society have a moral duty to stand for and further the cause of peace and human rights throughout the world.
The president made the comments while meeting with Netanyahu in Florida
by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar. com, December 29, 2025 at 4:36 pm ET | Gaza, Israel
President Trump said on Monday that he would support an Israeli attack on Iran if Tehran “continues” its conventional missile program or if it works to rebuild its civilian nuclear program that was damaged by US airstrikes during the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic in June. The president made the comments at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when asked if he would back more Israeli attacks on Iran. “If they continue with the missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast,” he said. “One will be yes, absolutely,” he added, appearing to reference Iran’s missiles. “The other was we’ll do it immediately,” he said, referencing the possibility of Iran rebuilding its nuclear program. The president also threatened to “knock the hell” out of Iran if it “builds up again.” President Donald Trump reacts as he shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival for meetings at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst According to media reports, Netanyahu was expected to ask Trump to support a new war against Iran over concerns related to its ballistic missiles. Iranian officials have been clear that they won’t agree to a deal to curb Tehran’s missile program since it’s the only deterrent the country has against the US and Israel. After the meeting, Trump and Netanyahu held a joint press conference where the US president again expressed support for the idea of another attack on Iran, though he suggested it wasn’t “confirmed” that Tehran was “building up” again. Any Israeli strikes on Iran would require US support since the US military played a major role in intercepting Iranian missiles fired at Israel, though they made it through US and Israeli air defenses, which is ultimately what led Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire after 12 days. The US also supported Israel’s attacks by refueling Israeli aircraft and then launched its own airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Amid the threats of another US and Israeli attack, Iran has warned that it’s ready to respond. According to Iran’s PressTV, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces warned in a statement on Monday that “any renewed hostile act against the country will be met with a far harsher, more crushing, and more damaging response than in the past.”
But
what exactly does that mean? Will the U.S. be involved in the actual
strikes? Will it "limit" its involvement to shooting down Iran's
retaliatory missiles?
If the former, Trump is not just "allowing" Israel to strike; the U.S. will actually be at war with Iran. This would be a betrayal of his promise to his base to keep America out of wars (he has, of course, violated that already).
Moreover, unlike the nuclear program, which incorporates a small number of known facilities, the missile program is spread throughout the country in a large number of hidden facilities, many of them probably unknown to the U.S./Israel.
Thus,
Trump will likely not be able to frame this as mere "military action"
rather than war. Nor will he likely be able to negotiate with Tehran a
limited Iranian response since the missiles are Iran's last line of
defense — the last leg of its deterrence.
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Tehran
has gone to great lengths to avoid a military confrontation with
Washington, but just because it has shown restraint in the past does not
mean that it can afford to do so in this scenario. Indeed, given that
Iran will be totally exposed without its missiles, it will likely reckon
that it has no choice but to strike directly at U.S. targets.
Even
if Trump opts to "only" support Israel defensively in yet another
Israeli choice of war — which is the position Biden took — it
nevertheless incentivizes Israel to restart war, as the U.S. is
lessening the cost for Israel to do so.
The cost to the United States is great even in this scenario. Washington depleted 25%
of its THAAD interceptors in the course of 12 days this past summer —
for Israel's war of choice, in a region four American Presidents have
declared no longer is vital to U.S. national security.
As I wrote last week,
every time Trump caves to Netanyahu and agrees to another war, it only
prompts Israel to come back to Trump after a few months with another war
plan for Americans to give their blood and tax dollars to.
This will go on endlessly until Trump decides to end it.
The
eight hunger strikers: From top left to right; Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib,
Heba Muraisi, Jon Cink (bottom left to right) Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed,
Lewie Chiaramello, Umer Khalid [Photo: Prisoners for Palestine]
Four
young pro-Palestinian political prisoners remain in acute danger of
starving to death in jail at the hands of Britain’s Labour government as
they continue a near two-month hunger strike.
Kamran Ahmed, Heba
Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Lewie Chiaramello, remain on hunger strike
after three others—Amu Gib (49 days), Qesser Zuhrah (48 days) and Jon
Cink (38 days)—paused theirs on December 23. Umer Khalid, the other of
the eight original hunger strikers ended his action after 13 days.
On
Christmas Day, Heba Muraisi completed 53 days without food, Teuta Hoxha
47 days, Kamran Ahmed 46 and Chiaramello 32. Death usually occurs
between 60 to 70 days without food but could come sooner depending on
the health of the individual and their circumstances.
On Friday,
a group of United Nations experts including Gina Romero, the UN special
rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of
association, and Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the
occupied Palestinian territories, intervened to denounce Labour Prime
Minister Keir Starmer’s treatment of the protesters. Their statement
declared, “These reports raise serious questions about compliance with
international human rights law and standards, including obligations to
protect life and prevent cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
They
added, “Preventable deaths in custody are never acceptable. The state
bears full responsibility for the lives and wellbeing of those it
detains... Urgent action is required now.”
The Labour government is spearheading a global campaign of state repression against opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
None
of the protesters—who are on remand—has been found guilty of anything.
They have all suffered ill treatment and unjustified blocks on
communication with the outside world, due to the court’s arbitrary and
unjust claim that charges against individuals arrested for Palestine
Action (PA) protests have a “terrorist connection.”
In breach of
the standard pre-trial custody limit of six months, all the hunger
strikers have been held on remand for over a year—with Qesser Zuhrah
held for 16 months. They are demanding immediate bail, the right to a
fair trial, an end to censorship of their communications, the
de-proscription of Palestine Action and the closing of all UK sites run
by Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer Elbit.
Justice Minister
David Lammy has refused all pleas by the group’s lawyers and family
representative to even meet them. The hunger strikers are on remand
ahead of trials as part of the Filton 24 case
for alleged involvement in an August 2024 Palestine Action protest of
Elbit—in Filton, near Bristol. Some are also accused of involvement in a
June 2025 protest at the Brize Norton Royal Air Force base in
Oxfordshire, where two military supply planes were daubed with red
paint.
Over
the past 26 months the criminalisation of opposition to the Gaza
genocide has escalated in Britain as the major imperialist powers have
allowed Israel a free hand to commit some of the worst war crimes of
this century.
Over 2,700 people have been arrested in just four
months under the Terrorism Act 2000 for peacefully protesting the
banning of Palestine Action. Anti-genocide protests have been subjected
to strict conditions, and denounced as “hate marches.”
Such
measures are replicated in country after country, including campus raids
with students being arrested in the United States and elsewhere.
A
study issued in October by the International Federation for Human
Rights (FIDH)—focussing on the UK, the US, France and Germany—noted that
protests in these countries were “powerful indicators of a growing
global awareness of ongoing genocide and systematic violations of
international law, and of the critical need for citizen action where
governments remain complicit or inert.”
The FIDH added, “Yet, as
this report demonstrates, such expressions of solidarity are being met
with widespread repression, not only under authoritarian regimes, but
also in liberal democracies that have long claimed to uphold human
rights.” It noted that all four countries had “weaponised”
counter-terrorism legislation to crack down on legitimate protest
against Israel’s onslaught in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The
brutal treatment by Britain’s Labour government of the hunger strikers
is a step change in this lurch to authoritarianism and dictatorship. The
government made clear from the outset that it would not consider any
of the legitimate democratic demands of the political prisoners.
Instead, Starmer, Lammy and Health Secretary Wes Streeting all refused
to intervene to prevent the deaths of the hunger strikers.
More
than two weeks ago (December 10), lawyers for several of the hunger
strikers put the matter sharply in a letter to Lammy: “should this
situation be allowed to continue without resolution, there is the real
and increasingly likely potential that young British citizens will die
in prison, having never even been convicted of an offence.”
But
not even the repeated hospitalisation of the hunger strikers and the
December 22 threat of High Court legal action by lawyers challenging
Lammy’s refusal to meet their representatives has forced a retreat from
Downing Street.
Instead, ministers and MPs deserted Westminster
for Parliament’s Christmas recess on December 18, not to return until
January 5. This is under conditions in which one of the remaining hunger
strikers, Kamran Ahmed is—as reported by his sister—is losing up to
half a kilogram a day.
Hunger
striker Qesser said they are up against a “government who think it’s
appropriate to ‘break for Christmas’ while 8 of its citizens starve in
their cells, while Gaza starves… all because of the British governments
persistent and nauseating commitment to the most unjust Zionist
project.”
Starmer’s barbaric actions mirror those of Margaret
Thatcher’s Conservative government, which allowed the starving to death
of 10 Irish Republicans—most famously Bobby Sands—during the 1981 hunger
strike at Long Kesh prison. The hunger strike was to protest the
British government’s revocation of Special Category Status for political
prisoners of war. Sands was starved to death even as he was elected to
the House of Commons, along with two other Republican prisoners (one
hunger striker) to the Dรกil รireann.
There is barely any
opposition to Labour’s historic crime within the Labour Party or
parliament more generally. Just 62 MPs, less than a tenth of the 650 in
Parliament, have signed an Early Day Motion calling on Lammy “to
intervene urgently to ensure their [hunger strikers] treatment is humane
and their human rights are upheld.” Among these just 31 (7 percent) are
numbered among Labour’s 404 MPs.
Workers and youth in Britain and
internationally must mobilise in opposition to the most concerted
attack on democratic rights in history. The basis for this political
fightback was explained in an analysis
by Socialist Equality Party (UK) National Chairman Chris Marsden this
July. The transformation of a party which arose out of the fight for
workers’ democratic rights to organise and strike against their
employers into the spearhead of the worst attack on democratic rights in
British history
cannot be attributed to a few bad
leaders. Rather Starmer, a former human rights lawyer turned right-wing
zealot, and his government are the end product of a fundamental shift
within the very foundations of world capitalism…
Capitalism is
being driven into an existential crisis by its inherent contradictions,
between an interconnected system of production and the division of the
world into antagonistic nation states based on upholding private
ownership of the means of production. To maintain its rule and immense
privileges, the bourgeoisie in every imperialist country must wage trade
and military war abroad and class war at home to ensure national
competitiveness against their rivals.
This agenda is
incompatible with the preservation of democratic rights. They are being
torn up, spearheaded by the attacks on anti-genocide protests and on
migrants.
Starmer’s Labour government is proof that Trump’s drive
towards dictatorship in the United States is only the most advanced
expression of a forced march to far-right authoritarianism under way
internationally.
Workers and young people in Britain and
internationally must demand the immediate release of the hunger strikers
and all those held without charge for peaceful protest and the
withdrawal of the proscription on Palestine Action.
Bitter
experience the world over demonstrates that protests limited to placing
pressure on imperialist governments complicit in all the crimes of the
fascistic Netanyahu regime are not enough. A new anti-war movement must
be built on socialist, internationalist foundations and based on the
working class—the great revolutionary force in society—acting
independently of every faction of the ruling elite.
Arab
and Muslim states are being courted to bankroll – and legitimize – a
foreign force tasked with dismantling Palestinian resistance under the
guise of peacekeeping.
As
2026 approaches, Washington is laying the groundwork for yet another
intervention – once again wrapped in the familiar language of
peacekeeping. Behind closed doors, US officials are pushing for the
deployment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza.
Far from a neutral effort to restore calm, the move signals a calculated escalation in the US-Israeli campaign to crush Palestinian resistance under the pretext of post-war reconstruction.
According
to US officials, this second phase of US President Donald Trump's
so-called peace initiative will coincide with the release of hostages
and a fragile, US-engineered ceasefire.
“A tremendous deal of
quiet scheming is currently taking place behind the curtain for phase
two of the peace deal,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt shared with reporters on 11 December, saying, “Our goal is to establish a lasting peace.”
But
if past US-brokered arrangements are anything to go by, this “peace” is
unlikely to mean justice. Details emerging from the Israeli press suggest
the ISF plan is being finalized by military leaders who will meet in
Germany to determine the force's rules of engagement – and which
resistance groups must be neutralized.
Disarming resistance, not the occupation
The
first cracks in the plan are already visible. Disagreements between
Washington and Tel Aviv have surfaced, not over whether to disarm Hamas,
but when and how. Tel Aviv insists that all resistance groups must
surrender their weapons before the ISF lands in Gaza. Washington, facing
regional blowback and a collapsing image as a neutral broker, is
attempting a more phased approach.
Dr Ghulam Ali, a researcher and author based in Taiwan, tells The Cradle:
“How
can the US hit the nail on the head while keeping the flow of weapons
to Israel steady and unwavering? Reducing Hamas's influence is unlikely
to lead to a sustainable peace. Only applying pressure to Israel will be
effective.”
He contends that the west would
ultimately be incapable of restraining Israel's actions, as it has
become increasingly apparent that each western peace initiative has
resulted in Israel's further integration into the region.
Dr James M. Dorsey,
a journalist and scholar from Singapore, stated on a recent Radio Islam
talk show that Trump is concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
is obstructing US diplomatic initiatives to resolve the Gaza conflict.
The divergence came to a head following Israel's assassination of Hamas commander Raed Saad – a killing that drew rare frustration
from the White House, with US officials conveying a “stern private
message” to Netanyahu that the move breached the ceasefire framework the
Trump administration had helped broker.
Netanyahu's hardline
refusal to ease military pressure on Gaza and Lebanon has delayed a
scheduled meeting between the two leaders until January.
The
disarmament debate has also exposed a wider fault line within the Axis
of Resistance and its western-aligned adversaries. Qatar, Egypt, and
Turkiye – all central to ceasefire negotiations – have resisted US
pressure to support a military deployment before Israel halts its
violations and allows humanitarian relief.
Netanyahu, however, is
pushing to deploy the ISF as a tool to dismantle Hamas entirely.
Meanwhile, Washington’s envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, concedes that disarming Hezbollah is “not reasonable.”
Buying complicity, not consensus
Arab
and Muslim-majority states remain wary. Public opinion across the
region strongly favors Palestinian resistance, making direct military
involvement in Gaza politically toxic. Yet Washington is betting on
transactional diplomacy to sway its allies.
The UAE, for instance, may finance the ISF without contributing troops – a workaround to avoid domestic backlash while maintaining its alignment with Tel Aviv.
Pakistan’s
position is equally ambivalent. While its foreign office denies any
formal decision to join the ISF, analysts suggest that Pakistan’s
military is likely to comply with US directives. As Imtiaz Gul, a
Pakistani defense analyst and executive director of the Center for
Research and Security Studies (CRSS), tells The Cradle:
"The
primary strategy and goals of the ISF regarding the disarmament of
Hamas are to neutralize and ultimately eradicate Hamas, along with other
resistance factions. The primary objective is not disarmament but
rather the neutralization and eradication of resistance in the region
with the support of Israel and its allied Muslim nations."
Gul
further emphasizes that Netanyahu has consistently characterized Hamas
as an existential threat to Israel, affirming that its elimination is
vital for the security of Tel Aviv. The main objective of the ISF is the
complete elimination of Hamas, a goal that will be explicitly supported
by the nations collaborating in the US–Israel joint operation in Gaza.
Peacekeeping or power projection?
Pakistan, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, and Egypt have expressed interest
in participating in the proposed stabilization force for Gaza. The
mandate of the ISF remains ambiguous; therefore, no country has so far
officially announced joining the international force.
Last week, Tahir Andrabi, a spokesperson of the Pakistan foreign office, said
that Islamabad has not decided yet whether it will take part in the
proposed ISF for Gaza. He said that talks about Gaza are part of greater
diplomatic efforts and are not an official proposal. Pakistan supports
efforts to stabilize Gaza, but any decisions about foreign involvement
will be in line with its policy, he added.
Dr Ali tells The Cradle that he believes that the Pakistani military would make every effort to comply with Washington's directives:
“The
military has the backing of religious factions, and if the US truly had
a mind to convince Pakistan to send troops, those same religious
factions would be the first to step up and sing the praises of such a
move. The army chief, perched on shaky ground, is unable to go against
the US.”
Gul, though optimistic about Pakistan's
joining the ISF interprets Islamabad's decision to align with the ISF as
a mutually beneficial arrangement between the US and Pakistan.
”The
US will refrain from intervening in Pakistan's existing hybrid
governance structure in return for Pakistan's endorsement of US
initiatives on Gaza and the possible facilitation of the Abraham
Accord,” he asserts.
Pakistan’s dilemma
Asim Munir, Pakistan's powerful field marshal, who has recently consolidated unprecedented authority to serve as the head of all three branches of the defense apparatus, is expected to meet President Trump in the forthcoming weeks to discuss the deployment in Gaza.
Although the Pakistani Foreign Office denied
Munir's visit to Washington and provided only a vague statement
regarding Islamabad's intention to join the ISF, analysts contend that
by banning a radical religious organization and granting lifelong legal immunity, General Munir has signaled the possibility of undertaking more significant actions.
“The
military leadership appears to be politically stable, as prominent
political entities such as the PPP [Pakistan's People Party] and PML-N
[Pakistan Muslim League (N)] endorse the current regime, while they may
provide some concessions to former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and his senior colleagues in exchange for their silence regarding deployment matters,” Gul reveals.
He
adds that historically, the military establishment has leveraged
right-wing pressure groups and political parties in Pakistan, while
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and its incarcerated leader, Khan, now
present minimal opposition due to ongoing administrative and legal
obstacles. Furthermore, he said, Pakistan is recognized as the
second-largest contributor to UN peacekeeping forces worldwide.
Outsourcing the occupation
The
establishment of the ISF has emerged as a crucial component of peace
efforts in West Asia following conflicts in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
The UN Security Council endorsed
the creation of the ISF through Resolution 2803 last month, aiming to
transition security control from the Israeli army to local authorities.
However, the clause concerning disarming entrenched groups like Hamas
and Hezbollah requires a complex strategy that integrates military
action with political motivations.
The ISF, functioning under US Central Command (CENTCOM),
is designed as a global peacekeeping body focused on Disarmament,
Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR). Over 70 nations have been
invited to participate, with a preference for troops from Arab and
Muslim countries to enhance “legitimacy.”
US officials assert that the ISF is authorized to use force
if disarmament negotiations fail, which causes many participating
Muslim countries to hesitate because of potential backlash from
pro-Palestinian constituents.
Dismantling Hamas and preventing the
reconstruction of resistance infrastructure present serious challenges –
and Hamas remains clear that any disarmament discussion is contingent
upon the establishment of a Palestinian state.
A Nativity scene depicting the birth of Jesus Christ,
featuring Mary and Joseph in cages as they are held in custody, sits
near the entrance to “Alligator Alcatraz” on December 21, 2025, in
Ochopee, Florida. The depiction, activists said, represents a family
separated from their baby as they demand that the detention camp be shut
down, that the people being detained be freed, and that ICE sweeps end.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In Jesus’
own words, Christianity is a faith where the first shall be last and the
last shall be first. It is meant not for the rich, the satisfied, and
the powerful. Rather it is first intended for the poor, the hungry, the
downtrodden, and the rejected.
Catholic
churches have traditionally erected Nativity scenes outside at
Christmas time. To represent the birth of Jesus, the scenes include the
baby, his mother and father, Mary and Joseph, together with the
shepherds, their animals, and the “wise men from the East” who came to
witness the birth.
Despite the fact that the story is rich in
meaning and symbolism, these Nativity scenes have been stripped of their
deeper meaning and have become quite two-dimensional and shallow. Like
the anodyne carols that have come to define the season, the portrait of
the birth that emerges is “peaceful,” “calm,” and “bright.” There is no
hint of the oppressive Roman occupation that forced this couple to
travel across the country to register in a new census
mandated by the empire. Nor is there a recognition of the many ironies
underlying the story: that this Jewish baby, who is to be a savior, is
born in a cave surrounded by animals, or that the first to come to pay
homage are lowly sheep herders and non-Jewish travelers from afar.
In
fact, it is these various ironies and others like them that truly
define the biblical Christian narrative. It is, in reality, an
upside-down faith. In Jesus’ own words, it is a faith where the first
shall be last and the last shall be first. It is meant not for the rich,
the satisfied, and the powerful. Rather it is first intended for the
poor, the hungry, the downtrodden, and the rejected. And it is for those
who recognize this and who therefore commit themselves to serving “the
least of these.”
With this in mind, it is fascinating to see
how in recent years some Christians have taken to reclaiming the
challenge inherent in their faith.
Just two years ago a
Palestinian clergyman in Bethlehem replaced the stable in the Nativity
scene with rubble in order to portray what was unfolding in Gaza.
His setting of “Jesus in the rubble” eloquently told the story of the
Palestinian people: vulnerable, stripped of their humanity, and
subjected to indignities. As if to more deeply develop this
identification, last year, Pope Francis was shown in quiet prayer before a manger scene in which the baby Jesus was wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh.
In somewhat the same vein, this year, a Catholic community in Massachusetts, given the threats faced by migrants and refugees in the United States,
found their own deeper meaning in the Christmas story. In the Nativity
scene they erected outside their church, there is no Jesus, Mary, or
Joseph. Instead, there is a sign noting that because of concern that ICE
(the immigration
enforcement police) would be conducting one of their raids, the family
had gone into hiding and was seeking sanctuary inside the church.
There
are reports of other similar efforts by churches to capture the
challenge of the Christmas narrative—with references to ICE, the
detention of immigrants, and the mistreatment of immigrant children figuring prominently in many of these portrayals.
In
the case of the Massachusetts church, Catholic leaders in the state
rebuked the church in question accusing them of playing politics. The
Nativity scene, they said, was to provide opportunities for quiet
prayerful reflection, not divisive politics. What these church leaders
miss, of course, is that if they strip the birth story (and, one might
add, the rest of the biblical narrative and for that matter the rest of
the New Testament and the many radical injunctions Jesus gives to his
followers) of its essential content, then it is they who are playing
divisive politics. By not grounding the Nativity in its real-world
context, there is the danger that the “contemplative prayer” the leaders
are advocating can become shallow and contentless.
After all,
the writers of the biblical stories had a point to convey. They weren’t
just painting a pretty picture to some day appear in pastel tones on a
holiday card. There are reasons why the child was born in a cave and
first welcomed not by the high priests but by the lowest and foreigners.
Why, in the face of repression, his parents had to take him and flee
into Egypt. And why, as he grew, he made every effort to challenge the
stale and corrupt religious hierarchy of his day, providing his
followers with a challenging message of service to the rejected, the
vulnerable, and those in need.
Every year around this time, our
mailboxes are filled with mostly brightly decorated holiday greeting
cards. About a decade ago, I was shocked to open one from a friend in Lebanon.
It featured the anguished and dirtied face of a young boy in a tattered
t-shirt staring out from behind a wire fence. Inside it read “Holiday
Greetings.” At first, I was confused. “Why this card, with this
incongruous message? And why now?”
After reflection, I realized
that the plight of this young Syrian refugee, forced to flee his
homeland, and now trapped in a camp living in squalor, hungry and dirty,
is the perfect image to convey the meaning and challenge of the
Christmas story. That story wasn’t written to give comfort to the rich,
powerful, and clean. It was to give hope to the destitute and the
powerless. And to challenge the rest of us to recognize that.
The
U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever
seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to
Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up
to stuff cash in his pockets.
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Dr. James J. Zogby is the
author of Arab Voices (2010) and the founder and president of the Arab
American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which
serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American
community. Since 1985, Dr. Zogby and AAI have led Arab American efforts
to secure political empowerment in the U.S. Through voter registration,
education and mobilization, AAI has moved Arab Americans into the
political mainstream. Dr. Zogby has also been personally active in U.S.
politics for many years; in 1984 and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign
manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign.
In 1988, he led the first ever debate on Palestinian statehood at that
year's Democratic convention in Atlanta, GA. In 2000, 2008, and 2016 he
served as an advisor to the Gore, Obama, and Sanders presidential
campaigns.
In exclusive
interviews, two Palestinians detained in separate Israeli prisons
recount harrowing details of violent sexual assault
Editor's note: The article contains graphic and distressing details of sexual abuse.
As Sami al-Sai was escorted to a clinic inside an Israeli prison, he
could hear screaming from nearby rooms. Prisoners were being tortured.
The Palestinian journalist had heard accounts of abuse in Israeli jails before his arrest in February 2024. But nothing, he said, prepared him for what followed.
After a brief medical examination, a doctor turned to the guards.
“'Everything is fine. Take him,' he said," al-Sai recalled.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Al-Sai was
dragged into a separate room, where for nearly an hour he said he was
kicked, stamped on, insulted and raped with an object while blindfolded.
Israeli guards watched, laughed and, al-Sai believes, may have filmed the assault.
For more than a year, al-Sai told no one what had happened. Months after his release in June, he decided to speak out.
“It’s difficult to talk about,” he told Middle East Eye. “But staying silent is worse.”
Al-Sai said he felt compelled to tell the world what Palestinian
prisoners endure in Israeli jails, adding that the sexual assault he
suffered was far from an anomaly.
“What I suffered is a drop in the ocean compared with others,” he said.
“It is nothing compared to what I heard from fellow prisoners.”
Al-Sai is now speaking about his experiences as a prisoner on public
platforms and to local media in the West Bank. But his interview with
MEE is the first time he has spoken to international media on camera. MEE is publishing details of his story with his permission.
Another former prisoner, who described how soldiers used a dog to
rape him and other instances of violent sexual assault, also agreed to
speak on condition of anonymity.
MEE's reporting adds further weight to widespread serious concerns
about Israel's systematic mistreatment and use of sexual violence
against Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir
pictured during a visit to a prison in footage shared by the ministry
(Telegram)
Earlier this year, a United Nations inquiry
accused Israel of using sexualised torture and rape as "a method of
war... to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian
people".
The Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has described
the Israeli prison system as a "network of torture camps" within which
prisoners were subjected to "repeated use of sexual violence"
including "gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of
prison guards or soldiers".
Last year, Israel's Channel 12 published a leaked video which appeared to show Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee.
In response to questions from MEE, the Israeli Prison Service said it
"categorically rejected" the allegations of abuse described by the
prisoners.
‘We want to kill you’
Al-Sai, 44, a father from Tulkarm, has worked for years as a
journalist in the occupied West Bank, reporting for Al Jazeera Mubasher
and the local broadcaster Al-Fajer TV.
On 23 February 2024, Israeli forces raided his home during an
intensive arrest campaign in the West Bank following the October 2023
war on Gaza. He was taken from his home and spent the next 16 months in
Israeli custody under administrative detention.
Under the controversial practice, detainees are held without charge
or trial based on secret evidence they are not permitted to see.
'The pain was overwhelming. But I still didn’t know what they were going to do. Why did they remove my trousers?'
- Sami al-Sai, Palestinian journalist and former prisoner
After an initial 19 days in military custody, al-Sai was transferred
to Megiddo Prison. Upon arrival, he said he was handcuffed and
blindfolded.
His first stop was the prison clinic. On the way, he could hear screams from other rooms.
“'Say long live the Israeli flag,'” he recalls hearing a guard,
speaking fluent Arabic, shout at a prisoner. “'We want to kill you. We
want to make you die.'
“At that moment, I knew I was entering a stage I had never
experienced before,” said al-Sai, who had been arrested by Israeli
forces three times before.
Inside the clinic, guards and medical staff accused him of being a
member of Hamas, repeatedly threatening him that they “fuck, fuck, fuck”
anyone associated with the group. He denied the accusation.
After an electrocardiogram and a brief examination, the doctor told the guards he was fit.
Al-Sai said he was blindfolded again and escorted by four to six
guards, including a woman, through a series of corridors. Doors opened
and closed. He was finally thrown to the ground.
At this point, al-Sai said, his trousers and underwear were pulled
down, and he was ordered onto his knees. The beating began, with the
guards striking him repeatedly on the head, back and legs.
“I felt close to death,” he said. “The pain was overwhelming. But I
still didn’t know what they were going to do. Why did they remove my
trousers?”
‘Reception party’
Moments later, he said, a solid object was forced into his rectum.
“I tried to resist. I clenched my body to stop it. That only made the pain worse. Eventually, I surrendered.”
The object was pushed deeper and twisted deliberately, he said. When
he began screaming, a guard squeezed his testicles and pulled his penis.
“I screamed so loudly I thought my voice would leave the prison walls,” he said.
“I wanted to die at that moment. I couldn’t take it. I reached a point where I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.”
Throughout the assault, guards laughed. One addressed him directly.
“You are a journalist,” the guard said, according to al-Sai.
“We will bring all the journalists and do this to them. We will bring your wife, your sisters, your mother, and your son.”
'I wanted to die at that moment. I couldn’t take it'
- Sami al-Sai, former Palestinian prisoner
At one point, he heard a guard say: “Bring me a carrot.” Another object was inserted.
Later, he learned from other detainees that vegetables, sticks and other objects were commonly used during such assaults.
A guard stood on his head with full body weight. Al-Sai feared his
skull would burst. He also heard one guard tell another to “stop
filming”, suggesting the assault may have been recorded.
“They said they were taking revenge for 7 October,” he said. “But I am not from Gaza. I am a journalist.”
The assault lasted about 25 minutes, he estimates. He was held in the room for nearly an hour.
Among prisoners, this assault is called “the reception party” - a
violent attack involving sexual violence that many detainees face upon
arrival at the prison.
Al-Sai did not initially tell other prisoners what had happened to him. Instead, he asked them about their experiences.
He was shocked by what he heard, particularly from detainees from Gaza.
“We had never heard of this level of brutality and sadism,” he said. “Not even in stories or in history.”
He said almost all of the abuse was carried out by Israel Prison
Service (IPS) guards. He heard accounts of prisoners raped directly by
guards and others sexually assaulted by dogs.
Raped by a dog
Halim Salem (not his real name), a Palestinian father from the West
Bank who was detained months after the war on Gaza was launched,
described to MEE how prison guards had used a dog to rape him.
It all started at 4am, as he was sleeping. Guards stormed the cell,
throwing stun grenades and ordering prisoners to the floor. Eleven men,
including Salem, were tied face down, he said.
“They treated us like carpets,” he told MEE. “They stepped on us.”
Why raping Palestinians is legitimate Israeli military practice
Salem was taken to the toilet - a known blind spot without cameras.
He was beaten, ordered to strip naked and forced to kneel with his head in the toilet bowl.
His hands were tied behind him and lifted painfully.
One guard kicked him in his genitals as another stood on his head.
“I lost sense of where I was from the beating,” he recalled.
Then, he said, a dog was brought in.
“The dog mounted me and raped me,” he said. “I felt the dog’s penis. I begged, screamed, tried to tense my body to stop it.”
When he screamed, the guards beat him for “disturbing the dog”, he said.
The assault lasted several minutes. Afterwards, Salem was thrown into
the yard in freezing temperatures, handcuffed for six hours, wearing
only underwear.
Ben Gvir visit
Salem said he had spent a year in Israeli custody.
Though he wasn't raped by the dog until a few days before his
release, he said he was subjected to violent torture from the very first
moment of his arrest.
“Every day was like a thousand deaths,” he said.
From the outset, Salem said he was beaten, insulted and
strip-searched. Guards inserted fingers into his anus under the pretext
of searching for contraband.
In jail, he and other prisoners faced what he called a system of slow
destruction: starvation, dehydration, medical neglect, extreme
temperatures, filth and constant provocation.
'I saw Ben Gvir with my own eyes. He was laughing and gesturing like a director'
- Halim Salem, former Palestinian prisoner
Hygiene was severely restricted. Prisoners were forbidden from
keeping containers to clean themselves after using the toilet. Tissues
were rationed to a single square per day.
Food was systematically inadequate. Salem estimated that his daily
rations, across all meals, amounted to no more than 700 grams.
“No salt. No sugar. No spices. No meat. No fruit,” he said.
Medical neglect compounded the damage. Vitamin deficiencies led to
unfamiliar illnesses, including nails falling off, spreading ulcers and
collapsed immune systems.
Overcrowding worsened conditions. A section designed for 120
prisoners held more than 220. If one prisoner contracted scabies, Salem
said, entire rooms were infected.
Without treatment, scabies lasted months, spreading to the nerves and causing loss of movement for some.
On 9 July 2024, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited Ofer Prison, where Salem was being held.
Four rooms were raided, including his, by dozens of guards, at the request of Ben Gvir.
The minister, who was accompanied by two children, gave directions to
the guards as they dragged prisoners into the yard and assaulted them
with batons, including Salem.
“I told them - in Hebrew - that I had a heart condition,” he said.
“They tied my hands behind me, lifted them, and two guards beat my chest
while I was kneeling.”
One guard shouted, “Hit him until he dies.”
“I saw Ben Gvir with my own eyes,” Salem said. “He was laughing, gesturing like a director."
Ben Gvir has made several similar visits to Israeli prisoner, often with a camera crew, where he oversaw abuse and taunted prisoners.
MEE has contacted Ben Gvir's office for comment.
The Israeli Prison Service told MEE that the allegations made by
prisoners in this article "were unknown to us and do not reflect the
conduct of the Prison Service".
It added that the IPS "operates in accordance with the law" and that the rights of detainees are upheld.
Commenting on al-Sai's case after he had spoken at a public event in
Ramallah earlier this week, Sara Qudah, the regional director of
the Committee to Protect Journalists, said: “The allegations of torture
and sexual abuse made by Palestinian journalist Sami al-Sai are deeply
alarming and tragically consistent with testimonies CPJ has received
from other journalists detained in Israeli prisons.
“CPJ unequivocally condemns these practices, which point to a
troubling and systemic pattern of abuse. These grave allegations demand
urgent, independent investigations, full transparency, and
accountability for all those responsible.”
Speaking out
For both men, recovery has been difficult. They leaned on faith to absorb the initial shock, but stayed silent for months.
After their release, they and their families struggled to readjust.
When Salem finally returned home, his children did not recognise him.
“One recognised me by my smile,” he said. “Another said: ‘That’s not my father.’”
Iron bars, electric shocks, dogs and cigarette burns: How Palestinians are tortured in Israeli detention
Al-Sai did not even know his wife had given birth to a daughter while
he was in custody. The adjustment was painful for both of them.
“Imagine this girl seeing a stranger come into her home,” he said. “Psychologically, it was very hard.”
Over time, they bonded. Now she runs to the door when he leaves. “We reached a good stage,” he said.
As he began to resettle, al-Sai decided to break his silence, first
speaking to local media about what happened to him. Fearing re-arrest,
his wife begged him to stop.
Fear of detention, social stigma and lingering trauma stop many former prisoners from speaking out, both men said.
“To this day, I relive it,” Salem said. “But we will not break.”
Since
October 2023, Israeli forces have detained more than 20,000
Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza. Rights groups and former
detainees describe systematic and daily abuse, including beatings,
sexual violence, starvation and medical neglect.
Under these conditions, at least 110 prisoners
are known to have died in custody since October 2023, though the true
number is believed to be higher. About 9,300 Palestinians remain
detained.
Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian rights groups say abuse inside prisons continues.
That is why al-Sai and Salem say they are speaking out.
“We are real people, with real names,” Salem said. “We are a living
testimony for the world to see. They [Israelis] must be held
accountable.”
Al-Sai agreed. “We have seen many lies from this occupation,” he
said. “So we must show the truth. For those who try to ignore our pain,
this is what it looks like.”
