Palestinian-US teen held by Israel for nine months without charge due in court

A Palestinian-American teenager is expected to appear in court in Israel later this week after being detained without charge for nine months.

Mohammed Ibrahim, who is 16 and lives in Florida, was arrested in February while on vacation on charges of throwing rocks at Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which he denies.

Last month, 27 Democratic US senators and House members sent a letter to the US State Department, urging the Trump administration to do more to pressure Israel to release him.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Mohammed had committed “a serious potentially fatal crime” and that the court was proceeding under due process.

The girl’s family does not agree with this.

“You can ask anyone you know, he’s a really sweet boy, with his sports and his PlayStation and school,” his father, Zahar Ibrahim, tells me before wiping a tear from his eye.

Mohammed was arrested in a midnight raid by Israeli soldiers on his family’s holiday home in the Palestinian village of al-Majra al-Sharqiya. He was 15 years old at that time.

Mr Ibrahim has not seen or spoken to Mohammed since February.

“He’s a normal fun-loving kid who loves and respects everyone,” Mr Ibrahim told me from the holiday home.

Unable to speak to his son for nine months, Mr Ibrahim has only heard of his detention through court documents and says his son was forced to confess.

According to court documents, they say, Mohammed woke up and was surrounded by Israeli soldiers. “They tied him up and blindfolded him, and they threw him on the floor of the jeep and took him wherever they took him.”

Mr Ibrahim, a father of four who runs an ice cream business in Florida, says his son only confessed to throwing stones because soldiers had beaten him.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether Mohammed was being held without charge or on allegations that he was beaten while in custody.

The US Embassy assigned a case worker who visited Mohammed in prison. Mr Ibrahim says he told them that he had lost a lot of weight and was not feeling well.

He has a message for President Donald Trump, another Florida resident.

“Do what you said from day one. You know America first. He’s American, and he’s a citizen and he’s a child. So, you know, as a president, his (Trump’s) duty is to protect Americans, and we’re not looking to do that for Mohammed.”

“What’s lucky in a US passport?” Mr. Ibrahim says. “It’s not helping. It’s the kind of thing that normally a foreign passport would make a difference, but the U.S. State Department isn’t really doing anything.”

A State Department spokesperson told the BBC that it was “following Mr Ibrahim’s case closely and working with the Government of Israel on this matter”.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and embassy staff in Jerusalem were also “deeply involved”, he said, adding that they could not comment further “due to confidentiality and other considerations”.

Because Mohammed is a US citizen and was vacationing in the West Bank when he was arrested, his case has attracted the attention of US lawmakers.

“This is a case where America has influence. It’s just failing to exercise its influence, and that’s a huge dereliction of duty,” says Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen from his office in Washington, DC.

He, along with 26 other US lawmakers, has written a letter to the State Department and President Trump demanding more efforts to secure Mohammed’s release.

“If this were any other country, you would be looking at a much larger effort. But for whatever reason, the Trump administration doesn’t want to put pressure on the Netanyahu government to do what it needs to do,” Van Hollen tells us.

“You have an American citizen who is being treated very badly, who has been beaten, who has been deprived of adequate food and nutrition, and I haven’t heard much from the American government. I haven’t heard anything from the Secretary of State. I mean, Donald Trump himself. I mean, who says he’s an ‘America First’ president?”

Mohammed is being held without charge in Ofer prison in the West Bank. It also houses adult detainees, including some who have been convicted of the most serious terrorist crimes, including murder.

Mohammed’s case has become relatively high profile because he is an American citizen.

But according to the Israeli Prison Service, about 350 Palestinian child protection detainees are being held in Israeli prisons.

Many have never been charged and human rights groups, as well as the United Nations, say some have suffered ill-treatment and torture.

“We must demand justice,” says Van Hollen.

As I walked out of Zahar Ibrahim’s holiday home in Al-Majra Al-Sharqiya, he looked tired and lonely. The house is rare. Just a set of weights to fill his time.

He can just wait.