|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
IMC Israel Journalist Jon Rapoport Tortured, Forced In Army, Flees to |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jonathan Dale Rapoport
Email: jrapoport (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!)
Address: Contributing Freelance Journalist, IMC Israel |
22 Aug 2001
|
|
I have fled into Palestinian controlled "Area A" after being involuntarily inducted into the Israeli military. I fled because I was involuntarily drafted into the army and have been tortured by Israeli security service agents. |
I have fled into Palestinian controlled \"Area A\" after being involuntarily inducted into the Israeli military.
I snuck across the border into \"Area A\" by foot with Palestinian migrant workers, one of whom loaned me a vacuum cleaner to carry so that I would look like a migrant worker.
I fled into \"Area A,\" which is under the full control of the Palestinian National Authority.
I fled because I was involuntarily drafted into the army and have been tortured by Israeli security service agents.
On 19 August 2001, I was detained at the Jerusalem induction center and transferred to the \"Bakum\" at the military base at Tel Hashomer.
I obtained a 24 hour pass to leave the \"Bakum\" because I was suffering from chest pains and did not have the heart medication that I take with me.
Now that I have not returned within 24 hours, a warrant for my arrest has been issued.
The question remains as the whether or not the Israelis will respect the full Palestinian control of \"Area A\" and not attempt to enter and arrest me.
The police and medical officials of the Palestinian National Authority have treated me very well, they are fully aware of my presence here.
I should like to state that the officials of the Palestinian National Authority with whom I have had contact have treated me with the utmost respect and have gone out of their way to be as helpful as possible.
However, their power is limited as Israel comes into \"Area A,\" which is supposed to be under full Palestinian control whenever they like and does whatever it likes.
Five days before being forced into the army I had tried to leave Israel.
I was denied permission to board a Lufthansa flight to Germany even though I have boarded this same flight with the same passport before.
The authorities gave me no reason for denying me permission to board the flight.
When I protested, I was detained by security agents at Ben Gurion International Airport.
Approximately half a dozen security agents tortured me by beating me and threatening my life. The beating left me with a large bruise and a lesion on my arm.
This would be called \"moderate physical pressure\" by Israel.
One of the security agents told me,
\"If you want to leave Israel, we will put you in The Mediterranean you can try to swim and the sharks do the work that we are going to have to do for us.\"
The \"interrogation\" with the use of \"moderate physical pressure\" was interrupted by a call on my global roaming cell phone by a friend from Denmark. The hotheaded security agents had stupidly forgotten to search me for my cell phone.
A couple of days after I tried to leave Israel, I was severely beaten by individuals I cannot identify.
By all practical measures, the group of about 10 men looked to be Israelis in their late 20’s and 30’s.
The only item my attackers took from me was my global roaming cell phone, which I purchased when I was in Denmark.
I am now not allowed to leave Israel and I am subject to arrest and detention for failing to return to the \"Bakum\" after being allowed to leave on a 24 hour pass, jail time above and beyond the usual 28 days for refusal to serve in the army.
I was interviewed by a journalist with his camera crew from Abu Dhabi National Television about the persecution.
I allege that The State of Israel is persecuting me for the articles that I have published on IMC Israel and attempting to silence me.
I refuse to return to Israel and I refuse to serve jail time because the only crime I have committed is exercising my right to free speech in my writings.
After I was released from the \"Bakum\" I went to my general practioner, Dr. Tran of Maccabbi Health Services in Jerusalem.
She arrogantly refused to assist in any way and threatened to have me incarcerated in a mental health facility for making the aforementioned allegations.
Such incarceration would be a very obvious attempt to discredit me because I am a journalist who has exposed a number of very unpleasant truths about The State of Israel.
It is my intention to leave The State of Israel and claim political asylum in a member state of the European Union.
I will continue to expose the horrible atrocities that Israel is committing.
However, because I am now a \"soldier\" who has \"gone AWOL\" and fled into enemy territory after leaving a military base on a 24 hour pass, I will not be allowed to exit Israel and will be forced into a prison on an Israeli military base where I likely be tortured again, excuse me, subjected to \"moderate physical pressure\" for my political writings.
For anyone who has any doubt as to whether or not my political writings would prompt Israeli government persecution, please click on the link below and read my political writings:
|
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/search-process.php3?keyword=Rapoport
|
