Thanks to a major AP story breaking the Dirar Abu Seesi case, the Shabak has modified its gag order and allowed reporting inside Israel that derives from foreign sources (such as AP). But Israeli media are still not allowed to develop their own original reporting, so that leaves us to continue our work. Unfortunately, the AP story neglects the work I did in researching and developing the story (this is the first post I wrote breaking the story open), which of course detracts from any future work I do in protecting the human rights of Israeli national security suspects and detainees.
The new report notes that the UN High Commission for Refugees has become involved with this case, which is a terrific sign. This means that Israel will not just be facing an American or Israeli blogger or lone reporter, but a distinguished international body whose mission is to protect the rights of refugees. It likely has become involved because the purpose of Abu Seesi’s trip to Ukraine was to migrate from Gaza due to the pressure and threat his family felt living there. The victim was in fact in the process of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship during the trip, which makes him a refugee. Here’s what the UN body’s local representative said about the case:
Maksim Butkevych, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ukraine, said Abu Sisi has been in custody in Israel since shortly after his disappearance.
The UN agency said it believed Abu Sisi was abducted and illegally transported by Israeli security forces, perhaps with the aid of Ukrainian counterparts.
“We don’t know details of his trip from Ukraine to Israel — let’s put it this way,” said Butkevych. “But unfortunately, what happened looks like a violent abduction and not a legal extradition or any other legal action on the part of authorities.”
I just finished an initial interview with Veronika Abu Seesi, the victim’s wife. We didn’t get a chance to have a long conversation because our translator’s line went dead in the middle. But I am developing strong suspicions about a possible motive for snatching Abu Seesi. To be clear, due to the opacity of Israeli national security and its ability to obscure even its darkest acts, Shabak and Mossad have not had to account for what they’ve done, nor explain the charges under which he has been apprehended.
I believe the reason for this lies in the fact that they either cannot or choose not to charge him as an alleged spy or someone acting to harm’s Israeli interests on behalf of an enemy organization. My sense is that the kidnapping relates directly to Abu Seesi’s professional work as the deputy chief engineer at Gaza’s sole power plant. In my interview, Ms. Abu Seesi called her husband “the mind of the power system.” He was instrumental in rebuilding it from scratch after it had been destroyed in an act many human rights activists called a war crime, when Israeli F-16s obliterated it during Operation Cast Lead.
My hunch is that Israel wants to know as much as it can about the power plant. It wants to know how it works, what computer software and systems it uses, its vulnerabilities. It is also interested in the role that the power plant plays in the entire Gaza infrastructure system, how it is connected to other major facilities there, etc. As I wrote in an earlier post, if Israel can disable the power plant at will during a military actions or at any point of its choosing, and do so without bombing it, this would relieve Israel of the opprobrium of the war crimes charges associated with the 2007 destruction.
I continue to think of Stuxnet as well in this regard since it too is a method of causing catastrophic damage to key infrastructure of an enemy society without having to get one’s hands terribly dirty through using war planes, bombs, etc. If you disable an entire country’s electric system merely by flicking a computer switch rather than dropping a bomb and possibly killing innocent civilians, Israel might reason that such an abduction would be worth the price. This source reveals that the turbines at the Gaza power plant were manufactured and serviced by Siemens, the same company which produced the command and control systems for Iran’s Natanz and Bushehr nuclear plants, which were sabotaged by Stuxnet. No, it’s not a smoking gun, but sure is suggestive.
Returning specifically to Gaza, the detainee’s wife further believes that his kidnapping is intended as a way of further disrupting power generation in Gaza and further degrading the functioning of its infrastructure. As such, Abu Seesi’s extraordinary rendition would be a continuation of Israel’s war against Hamas by other means than war or military action. Removing Gaza’s senior civil engineer is a means of warfare against Gaza and Hamas. It should be viewed the same way as if it killed him by putting him out of action. In other words this is a crime, a serious crime and should be addressed by all concerned as one.
This kidnapping which violated the sovereignty of Ukraine and several UN conventions and international laws, is a serious affront that must be addressed at the highest level. I hope the family may be able to make a formal complaint to the UN that would enable the world body to take up this case and raise the heat on Israel for the man’s immediate release.
Here is a link to the Hebrew language account Haggai Matar wrote for MySay, which was taken down yesterday due to the secret police gag order. My thanks to all journalists like Haggai who are doing their best within the straightjacket of the national security state to find and free Dirar.
Your hunch is wrong,
The power station in gaza was built in 2002 while the strip was under israeli control, since the power station integrated with the israeli power system (that still provides 50% of the gazan consumption)
so there is no need for israel to kidnap anyone to understand how the system work, Israel is familiar with the plant to the smallest screw level. if Israel would like to deny power from Gaza there will be no power in Gaza.
Apparently the fuel to generate the system is purchased in Israel but…. the bill isn’t being paid in full due to the dispute between Hamas and Fatah, so the stupid Israeli’s whom you criticize for being cruel etc. are paying part of bill.
http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/ElectricityReportHeb.pdf
let me say that one more time, get yourself familiar with the material prior to posting such nonsense.
No, you’re wrong. The power plant was TOTALLY destroyed & rebuilt. Israel may not even have the plans of the rebuilt station & certainly may not know how it works unless it was rebuilt as a virtual copy of the old one, which I strongly doubt.
You’re a lawyer living in Detroit? What are you, a Shin Bet or Aman agent as well. YOu personally know to a certainty what Israel knows about the power plant? Nonsense. If Israel could shut the spigot that easily it wouldn’t have bombed & destroyed the plant during Cast Lead. You know, I guess there are a lot of dumb lawyers, but I kinda though most of them were a little more intelligent & thoughtful than the nonsense you’re spouting here.
Who’s paying the power plant bill is completley OFF TOPIC. This is not a propaganda outlet to score pts for Israel. If that’s what you need to do do it elsehwere. Stay on topic.
And don’t tell me what I need to become familiar with. If you were half as familiar as I am with the issues you wouldn’t come across the way you do.
Nehh wrong again, Israel attacked the transformers limiting the damage to the power station, not quite the same thing as destroying the entire power station.
“And don’t tell me what I need to become familiar with. If you were half as familiar as I am with the issues you wouldn’t come across the way you do.”
is this is a joke or what ? first time i came around was 6 days ago on march 4. the first thing i ever read on your blog was this,
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2011/03/04/hasbaristas-clickbombers-and-other-fraudsters/
i even read the reply which was posted by the guy you accused in doing all that, a reply which your most cowardly deleted, a reply which the user “Castellio” was referring to. so, spare me the righteousnesses about your so called “Knowledge”, i know you don’t know much.
That’s not quite right either, as the following quotation proves. The transformers were knocked out along with the transmission lines including most of the power transmission sources from Egypt & Israel. Unless you’re an electrical engineer (since you’re a lawyer in Detroit that seems unlikely), you have no idea whether the damage described below required completely revamping the internal systems of the plant or not.
I note that as of one year after the war, the damage had still not been completely repaired to the plant. Further, I note that the turbines and presumably the command and control system which operates them is manufacturfed by Siemens. Surprise, surprise. Guess which company’s command & control system was used by Israel to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear plants via Stuxnet??
Your statement above shows how little you understand what you read. the transmission lines are part of the transformer station. go look at the nearest transformer station next to where you live.
Siemens, your statement shows how little you understand both about PLC’s, Stuxnet, and computers.
All PLC’s in the world are working around a computing standard known as IEC 61131-3. it really doesn’t matter who’s the manufacture. Siemens was able to get the biggest market share of industrial PLC’s. Again pay a visit to the nearest public utility company around where you live and ask them.
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No I’m afraid again it’s you whose comprehension is deficient. The power plant tranformers & transmission lines are ea. separate entities. There are pictures at Google Images showing that they are separate entities & that they were ea. destroyed except for the plant. If you’d bothered to read the linked source you’d also see that the infrastructure allowing access to almost all the power coming fr israel & Egypt was destroyed.
Today’s AP story also suggests that Abu Seesi’s arrest may’ve been due to the plant developing a way of bypassing Israeli fuel sources, which would anger the Israeli besiegers.
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Ira: you’re done in this thread. Don’t publish another comment here. Move on.
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Ira, I would not base any criticism of Richard on that post. I saw it too, and was perplexed by how the author was trying to use Richard’s lack of Arabic as proof that he isn’t qualified to speak on these issues. Firstly and most importantly, you don’t have to speak Arabic to read a history book, follow politics, or know the difference between right and wrong, so it made no logical sense to bring that up. Secondly, the commenter’s knowledge of the language can’t be that great either – s/he claimed that al-Baladi is quite obviously a false name to anybody who knows Arabic, because ‘baladi’ means ‘my homeland’. But it also means ‘of the town’, and this really is a surname. (I suppose the English equivalent would be ‘Townsend’ or something like that.) This is why I didn’t notice anything amiss when Richard posted the fictitious torture story. It seemed strange to me that the hoaxers would try to use his lack of Arabic as the central proof of his ignorance when they don’t seem to speak it either.
As for cowardice, personally I think that it is more cowardly to commit anonymous hoaxes than it is to delete comments that gloat about them. I have disagreed with Richard in the past, but I have always challenged him under my real name. There is something wrong when people feel the need to adopt dishonest strategies in a discussion – especially if the dishonesty involves a subject as serious as torture. That’s not something to be lied about and used for point-scoring.
Vicky
reading your comments is always a pleasure regardless of content.
first something i owe you from our discussion over the Shaikh Jarrah residents, The Fauzia El-Kurd (hopefully i spelled it right) states on the website that she has an ID.
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_gaza_situation_report_2009_01_02_hebrew.pdf
since you are fluent in arabic, what’s the meaning of the name El-Kurd ?
as for your statment above, i do not recall to the latest detail what was said in the post richard deleted. If you wish to dicuss that, ask richard to repost it.
What does “Kurd” mean to you? Have you never heard the word before?
Ira Schlussel is of course trying to hint that with a name as al-Kurd, you’re not really Palestinian.
But you can of course be named Lieberman and be 200% native, though you’re born in the present-day Moldavia.
And with the name “Schlussel”, you could be another key-wearing Palestinian, longing to go home 🙂
you know whats even more sad?
check out this link:
https://www.cee.siemens.com/web/il/en/corporate/home/Siemens_Israel/AboutUs/Pages/AboutUs2.aspx
Im not an engineer, but im assuming siemens didnt develope a completly new technology for Gaza. Makes ur theory even less logical/possible.
Richard,
Posting the kidnapping is good work. You don’t need to add the newly fantazy conspiracy theory. It does not add you any credit and actually serves to discredit you.
Lets try logic:
You claim that Israel was able to shut down the Iran nuclear plan. If it was able to do that with a computer program, why would it need to kidnap an operating engineer to shut down a simple electric plan 20 miles from the border.
It makes no sense. In addition, Israel is supplying electric to Gaza, again kidnap does not make sense.
Had he been done by Israel, there would have been a reason. It does not have to be something you, or I agree for such an action, but they would have had some reason. Shutting down the plant Surly is not that reason.