I knew something was fishy in the Malsin deportation case. Yesterday, an Israeli judge accepted a signed document allegedly from Jared Malsin, an American Jewish editor for the Palestinian Maan news agency, which purported to claim that Malsin wished to vacate his appeal of his deportation order. On the strength of what turns out to be a fraudulently conveyed document and without consulting the victim or victim’s attorney, the Israeli judge dismissed the appeal. Israel promptly turned around and expelled Malsin on the next flight to New York.
This is a terrible miscarriage of justice in which an Israeli judge was a willing participant. Here is what Malsin told Maan:
Upon landing in New York on Thursday, Ma’an News Agency’s Jared Malsin, a US citizen, said Interior Ministry staff pressured him into dropping a legal challenge against his deportation order just two hours after his lawyer left for the day.
After signing a hand-written letter that Malsin said he believed was a “formality,” ministry staff sent the paper to District Judge Kobi Vardi, who had presided over Malsin’s case, and the judge decided to lift the stay of deportation order…
“None of this was my decision,” he [Malsin] emphasized in a phone interview minutes after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport early Thursday morning local time, rejecting reports that he left Israel voluntarily. “There’s no such thing as a voluntary deportation. I was deported, period.”
Hours earlier, in an armored car en route to the plane, Malsin said he was unaware there were legal implications to the paper. “I had no idea I was waving anything, no clue,” he said, explaining how Interior Ministry officials coerced him into creating a legal document to withdraw his case without an attorney present, and offered a misleading explanation over what he was signing.
The document apparently indicated Malsin was leaving the facility “without personal coercion.” But Malsin said he was under the impression that the papers he signed would allow him to simply leave the airport while his case continued in Israel.
Unfortunately, Malsin does not know Hebrew (it’s a very good idea if you want to be an editor in Israel or the Territories that you learn some Hebrew) and even more unfortunately, he signed papers trusting what a Shin Bet official told him about them was the truth. A fatal mistake. Again one you’d think a seasoned reporter in the Territories would not make. But given that he was all of 25 and had suffered incarceration for eight days, perhaps an understandable one.
So Jared Malsin was deported. The Shin Bet lied and committed a miscarriage of justice and Judge Kobi Vardi was a willing participant in the legal charade. This isn’t even kangaroo justice. It’s monkey justice and makes a mockery of the word (justice). Congratulations Israel, you’ve done it again. Sullied your reputation when there was absolutely no need to do so. So much for Israel’s vaunted democratic values and appreciation for the right to a free press.
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Palestinians are regularly coerced, often by means of physical abuse/torture, threat of physical abuse/torture, or threats to their families, into signing confessions and other official legal documents, written in Hebrew, that are contrary to their own rights and interest. There are also documented cases in which the victims of this sort of deception have been children. This “method” appears to be SOP for the Israelis.
When will our delusional elected officials realise that what they call as THE “only democracy” in middle east is anything but? Even Washington Post had this story. May be they are too busy to read the papers!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012002314.html
ps and Ma’an news agency is a nonprofit organization supported by grants from the U.S. and European governments and the United Nations…………..
But note the tortured language the WaPo resorts to to describe what Israel did to Malin. He was “sent out” of the country. No, he was deported. “Sent out” allows the Post to shilly shally around the issue of expulsion or deportation which are quite serious violations of civil rights & press freedom when you do it to a journalist.
Yeah, why the semantic tango? “Left,” “sent out,” but not a peep about being “deported.” However, I do give WaPo a tiny bit of credit for even publishing the article.
Funny, I thought he left because he was sick of the conditions. Because that’s what his own lawyer said in every newspaper running the story…
I’d like to have you experience 8 days of solitary confinement in a windowless BG airport jail cell & then we’ll see how yr mental faculties operate. No doubt, this mistreatment contributed to the fact that he signed a document which the Shin Bet lied to him in describing.
Yeah, Shira, kind of like a lot of Palestinian detainees sign confessions in Hebrew after a week of being tortured ’cause they are “sick of the conditions”.
You know, I’d like to see you survive one hour in solitary confinement in a windowless cell without any way of gauging the passing of time and without a book, a magazine, or anything to distract you from your own isolation, and without knowing when it would end. The fact that he lasted eight days is a testiment to his fortitude.
I’m sorry to say, Richard, that I was right about everything in this matter. I knew there was no way a responsible jurist would accept a pro se motion from anyone who had previously appeared in court with legal counsel. This is every bit as bad as I suspected. I am so sorry Jared Malsin signed something he couldn’t read, without consulting with his attorney, but as you said, he is a young man and had been through a bad ordeal. As Shirin said, it’s nothing new, but I’m rather shocked that the Israeli government is becoming more and more blatant in their attacks on people like Malsin. He’s probably just the beginning, and all non-Israelis living and working in the OPT’s are at risk now, for the same treatment.
They’ve been making it increasingly difficult for quite some time now for foreign workers to remain in and return to the West Bank to continue their work. They’ve changed the visa and residency rules, and a number of college and university professors, for example, have been refused visa renewals, or just found the requirements too onerous.
It has occurred to me that as a carrier of a U.S. passport, I have never had a bit of difficulty or hesitancy traveling to or spending time in any country in the Middle East or South Asia, and have always felt safe, including in countries that did not have diplomatic relations with the U.S.. I have always refused invitations to visit Israel for ethical and moral reasons. I have begun to realize that more and more I would also be very concerned about my own safety there, and it is not so much that I fear any segment of the Israeli population (though perhaps I should). It is the government I fear.
Exactly, Shirin. I would feel more worried about trying to enter Israel now than any other country in the world. Their mentality seems to be that anyone can be abused, treated like a criminal and dispensed with. How do people enter this country if they’re not Jewish? Or even if they are Jewish, and are similar to Malsin, either a journalist, NGO worker or activist? I do know that anyone entering Israel and wanting to visit the OPT’s must lie and tell the border officials they’re on holiday and visiting Tel Aviv, etc. You do NOT tell them you’ve come to volunteer in the refugee camps or demonstrate against the Wall, of they’ll deport you so fast your head will spin. Israel also requires proof of a return ticket; they want to know that you will be leaving, and when. Getting to the Palestinians involves some subterfuge, which ought to tell anyone with half a brain just what kind of country Israel is.
I would very much like to lead a group of progressive bloggers to Israel & Palestine. But I’m very concerned about how I would be treated on entering the country. Phil Weiss btw says he was treated surprisingly easily when he just went. Max Blumenthal, on the other hand, was asked what Hebrew school he attended. How’s that for ethnic profiling?
We should form a group and go, just to see what happens, then write about it.
Richard, you’ve got more than enough Jew-cred, I think, but that might not save you if they got hold of your writing!
I have had friends tell me that it’s easier to get in now if you go in a group. If we go with a Jewish guy like Richard, we’re in like Flynn, inshaAllah. Even so, it would be fun to see what happens if we go as a group, a Jewish guy, a woman in hijab, and yes, let’s get some other dubious types to come along for the ride. Great idea!
Yeah, and me with my obviously Arab name, and passport wall-to-wall with Arab and Muslim country stamps? Tell you what. You go, and send lots of pictures.
Shirin, I have 2 Muslim country stamps in mine. I don’t know if Egypt will mess them up too much, but the one from Pakistan might twist their panties.
I’ll clean my hard drive before I go, and get rid of the photos of the Separation Wall and Ismail Haniyeh on my laptop. Delete the Goldstone Report and all the nasheeds. Go without hijab and chatter about how I want to see where Jesus was born.
Anyway, maybe Phil Weiss got lucky because they didn’t connect him to Mondoweiss. Just a thought.
Yeah, well, I can’t exactly change my name, can I, or erase the pages and pages and pages on my passport of repeated and often lengthy stays in “enemy countries” like lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, etc. And I am not going to pull the Arabic stickers off my laptop keyboard, or delete a single “incriminating” item from the hard drive. And I am not very good at concealing how I feel about things either, so even if I can keep my mouth shut, my face will show it.
I’m not criticizing you at all for being willing to do all that – more power to you! – but it’s just not me. I can’t.
Well, if we can’t all do this together BEFORE the peace agreement is signed, perhaps we can do it after. We’ll find a wonderful restaurant in Ramallah or Yafo or wherever & drink the finest bottle of some locally produced inebriating beverage & have a grand old time along w some Palestinian & Israeli Jewish friends. It’s a nice thought. And as Jews traditionally say: “May it be speedily & in our day.”
Perhaps I should do what the Nation does w. its annual cruises & organize a trip to Israel-Palestine for readers & their friends.
PS I don’t think an Egypt stamp should be much of a liability given the degree to which the Mubarak regime is in Israel’s pocket and always eager to do its bidding including utterly betraying the Palestinians.
By the way, the friend I stay with in Cairo lives across the street from the Israeli embassy, and directly outside my bedroom window is the Israeli flag flying high and proud. Needless to say I keep the curtains closed.
True about the egypt stamp, I don’t think they’ll get too fried about it. But I don’t think they’d let you in because of the lebanon stamp; lebanon does not accept travelers with israeli visa stamps, so it could be tit for tat.
Wow I remember when I was a kid, a passport meant you could travel freely all over the world. What happened???
I don’t think my habit of spending weeks and weeks at a time in Syria, and going back and forth between Syria and Lebanon would be helpful either, and in all honesty, I’d rather go to Syria any day anyway. As far as I know Syria won’t give you a visa either if you have an Israel stamp on your passport. And on the visa application there is a question as to whether you have ever been to the OPT. don’t know what the purpose of that is. Maybe one of these days I’ll ask. The Consul General is quite a decent, reasonable guy. There are people who regularly go to Israel and the OPT as well as Lebanon and Syria. I’ve never asked them how they work that out, so it’s probably not as difficult as I think. Still, I have always refused invitations to visit Israel for moral and ethical reasons.
I have absolutely no interest in visiting Israel but the only way to get to Palestine is via Israel. I just asked a friend if there is any difference between entering via Ben Gurion Airport or the Allenby Bridge/Jordan, and he said no.
I know there are several Arab countries who will not allow you in if you have an Israeli visa stamp in your passport. It is my understanding that you can ask to have the visa stamp put on a piece of paper which you keep in your passport, but it is also possible that they will hassle you about this request. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’m planning on going in early May, if possible, and I hope I don’t have problems. I want to go to Palestine, not Israel. Palestine. I want to pray at al Aqsa Mosque. I want to see Palestine. I am not interested in Zionist tourists attractions and will not visit them except to remember the ruins of Palestine underneath.
Of course, Mary. That should go without saying. Sorry if I lost sight of that. I have a few friends in Israel, Palestinian and Iraqi, whom I would love to see. A couple of years ago I was invited by an Iraqi friend to come for Passover since I was going to be in the region. He was born in Israel, his mom is from Mosul, and he tried to ply me with promises of the most famous, wonderful, and difficult-to-make Muslawi dishes from her kitchen, as well as a traditional Iraqi Seder. I don’t think he understands to this day why I had to say no, and it makes me sad to think about it even now. I asked him to come and meet me in `Amman, but it didn’t happen.
Yes, I am aware of the practice of having the Israeli stamp on a separate piece of paper. It’s been done that way for many decades now, and that probably is still the standard method.
I’ll go to Israel, in fact I’ll go almost anywhere. I have no evil intentions and I’ll know how pathetic they are if they deport me for my passport stamps and my hijab.
RE: “This isn’t even kangaroo justice. It’s monkey justice and makes a mockery of the word (justice). Congratulations Israel, you’ve done it again. Sullied your reputation…” – R.S.
MY COMMENT: But have you seen Israel’s incredible ‘field hospital’ down in Haiti? It has been all over the evening news (especially ABC and NBC) these past few days. They delivered a baby and the mother is going to name him or her Israel! WOW! That sure beats Uncle Tom and Aunt Jemimah! And they make great ‘computer controlled’ drip irrigation systems that are used all over the U.S. (or so says Michael Oren)!
P.S. I read somewhere that Israel’s ‘field hospital’ in Haiti came complete with its own press office. I’m not joking!
Of course it did! So did the team that Israel sent a few years ago after the big tsunami. And the team they set up for the Bamm earthquake never consisted of anything BUT a press office since they knew in advance that Iran would refuse anything from them. This is typical narcissistic behaviour. It’s not that narcissists never do anything good. Many of them do. It is that they really don’t care about doing good. What they care about is getting recognition for doing good, and if they actually have to do something good to get that recognition, oh well, that’s the price they have to pay. What counts for them is making the grandiose gesture and getting acknowledged for it.
I’m not saying it’s not true, but this is the only place I have seen that claims that the statement he signed was in Hebrew. Elsewhere I read that Malsin himself wrote the letter, or at least an attached note.
I don’t buy the excuse that he didn’t know what he was signing. He’s a 25 year old Yale graduate. not a kid. Give me a break. He could have insisted his lawyer be present, or even wait for another day.
I have never heard the Israeli gov’t write a legal document, esp. for a detainee, in English. The lang. of the state is Hebrew, not English. The idea is preposterous. Of course writing it in Hebrew & knowing Malsin doesn’t know enough Hebrew to understand the contents was a perfect setup for the Shin Bet. Nor would it make sense for the Israeli gov’t to allow a detainee to write a legal document in his own words. In fact, I’ve never heard of a personally written statement in this context being permissible as a legal document. Your theory doesn’t pass the smell test. But it sure makes great hasbara.
Would you sign a legal document in French or German & be able to know what you were signing w. certainty? You weren’t in the rm. nor have you ever been subjected to 8 days of detention & mistreatment at the hands of the Shin Bet. When you’ve had that experience then you can pass along yr theories about what Malsin might or might not have done or should or should not have done.
Richard (Silverstein) you should be very careful about visiting Israel
Make absolutely sure that your passport contains no stamps from Arabic countries (I used to have two passports; one for travelling around the Middle East
and another (clean)if I wanted to visit Israel or Palestine. Unfortunately the British government will no longer allow this.
Lay a big brassy menorah under the first layer of clothes in your suitcase.