Mossad Kidnaps Gazan Engineer in Ukraine, Now Held Incommunicado in Israeli Prison

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A Ukrainian news source reported in late February that the Mossad kidnapped the chief engineer of Gaza’s only power plant in Ukraine:

The wife of a Palestinian engineer has accused the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad of abducting her husband. Derar Abu Sisi went missing five days ago while visiting his Ukrainian wife in her home country.

The Ukraine-based Al Raed Press said that Mr. Abu Sisi is the head of operations at the only power station in the Gaza Strip and was on a visit to Ukraine when he disappeared during a train journey on 18 February. Mrs. Abu Sisi accused Mossad of kidnapping her husband…She stressed that her husband is a governmental employee in Gaza but is not involved in any political activities and is not a member of any political party or movement.

“My husband didn’t have any enmity against any person or entity in Palestine or Ukraine, and he is not a prominent business owner or rich enough to be kidnapped by a gang,” she added.

…Railway staff on duty on the night of the disappearance had claimed in an early statement that two people in plain clothes boarded the train at a station and kidnapped the Palestinian engineer after they showed him identity cards claiming that they were security personnel. The railway employees then changed their statements, claiming that everything was fine and that no one was kidnapped from the train. The media reports claim that the officials changed their story under pressure from the Ukrainian police.

According to Irenynko Mykola, a lawyer and president of a Ukraine human rights organization, there are no mutual cooperation agreements between Ukraine’s intelligence service and the Mossad. If it is proven that the Israeli agency did carry out the kidnap it will raise many questions about Mossad activity in the former soviet republic.

Now an Israeli source confirms that Dirar Abu Seesi (note correct spelling) is being held incommunicado in an Israeli prison where he’s being interrogated.

My source does not yet tell me what he’s charged with, but one can presume if a detainee is being interrogated it’s on an intelligence-security related issue.  Usually when they arrest a Palestinian outside Israel or who’s recently been outside Israel they accuse him of contact with a forbidden organization (which usually means Hezbollah or Hamas).  It’s possible they’ve cooked up such charges in this case.

But Abu Seesi may be a different case.  As the chief engineer of Gaza’s power plant he may know a good deal of technical information Israel would like to have about the plant, how it operates, how it can be shut down.  In fact, given the success of Stuxnet in penetrating Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel would have a definite interest in being able to penetrate the Gaza plant with a remote program and shut it down during hostilities without having to destroy it as it did during Operation Cast Lead.

Or they may be concocting a story by which he’s engaged in some terror plot which would exploit his skills as a civil engineer.

If these reports are true, then the Mossad is continuing its violation of the sovereignty of other nations and kidnapping foreign nationals on foreign soil.  This is a massive violation not only of Ukrainian sovereignty, but of international law for which Israel and the Mossad should be held accountable.  It also shows since the al-Mabouh disaster Mossad has learned nothing and changed nothing.  It operates with impunity and flagrantly disregards the norms of civilized discourse.  Once again showing why Israel has placed itself squarely outside the realm of western democratic nations.

Israeli intelligence services must account for Abu Seesi’s whereabouts and provide information about the charges against him.  He must be allowed to consult with an attorney.  He must not be tortured or abused (though that no doubt has already happened).  This man is a professional, a civil engineer, not a terrorist.