Dirar Abu Seesi: Breaking The Israeli Gag

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Looks like we’re in the infant stages of breaking the Israeli gag on reporting the kidnapping, extraordinary rendition, & imprisonment of Dirar Abu Seesi, first in a Shabak torture facililty and now in Shikma Prison.  Rehavia Berman has published the news at his blog. So far it has not been taken down.  But Haggai Mattar reported the story in MySay (motto: “a free press in Israel,” turns out not so free).  That story was taken down.

I’m trying to interview Abu Seesi’s wife, Veronika in Ukraine, but she doesn’t speak English and I’m trying to surmount the language barrier by finding someone in her family who can translate for me.  Interviewing his sister in Gaza is also impossible as they don’t speak English either.

Edward Doks, the Yediot correspondent in Ukraine tells me AP may be publishing a story soon, which would go a long way toward pressuring the secret police to remove the gag.  I’ve approached a number of media outlets, among them the Daily Beast and London Review of Books,  which have expressed no interest in the story, which simply astonishes me.  But there is yet hope as I’m about to send a draft to a Jewish publication which may publish.

What I simply don’t understand is that Israel has violated mutiple international laws and UN convenants in performing this extraordinary rendition and yet very few seem interested.  Where’s the outrage, everyone?  Won’t someone beside me (and the two journalists I mention above) stand up for a Gaza civil engineer with six children now held secretly in the Israeli Gulag?  Break the gag now.

This article first appeared at Tikun Olam

Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein is an author, journalist and blogger, with articles appearing in Haaretz, the Jewish Forward, Los Angeles Times, the Guardian’s Comment Is Free, Al Jazeera English, and Alternet. His work has also been in the Seattle Times, American Conservative Magazine, Beliefnet and Tikkun Magazine, where he is on the advisory board. Check out Silverstein's blog at Tikun Olam, one of the earliest liberal Jewish blogs, which he has maintained since February, 2003.

One thought on “Dirar Abu Seesi: Breaking The Israeli Gag

  • March 11, 2011 at 5:27 am
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    Your assumptions are disappointing. Please wait untill you have the proper amount of OBJECTIVE information before rendering judgement on a country. idiot.

    Reply

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