A few days ago the Association for Civil Rights in Israel appealed the gag order on the Dirar Abusisi case and the Petah Tikvah judge ruled in their favor partially. But it’s a very small victory since the main part of the gag stays in place. Israeli media cannot report on those aspects of the case most critical to reporters, the Israel public and the victim. It says “the details of the investigation and the circumstances of the arrest” may not be reported for another 30 days.
The most that can be said is that this arouses an enfeebled Israeli press which has mostly steered clear of the story as it’s developed as if is had a case of AIDS. Haaretz’s security correspondent, Yossi Melman and others reported it today, of course entirely omitting the original reporting of this blog. Melman didn’t add anything new in his report in today’s Haaretz. Though he did introduce an error by saying that Veronika Abusisi is in Gaza with her six children. She is not, but in rather in Ukraine, where I presume she needed to be as part of her husband’s application for Ukrainian citizenship.
Israel’s Channel 10 security correspondent Alon Ben David reports the totally unsubstantiated claim that Abusisi is a “senior Hamas operative.” But well-placed sources within Gaza report to me that this is false. This is what was reported to me:
Abusisi is not politically aligned or active and he’s not really well-known in Gaza. One person there believes that Israel wants information and when it gets it they will release him.
Another source told me that Abusisi has held his position since the days of PA rule of Gaza. So in other words, he is not a political appointee, but a technocrat who was held over by Hamas because he is good at his profession and a critical worker for the power plant.
According to a source knowledgable about the issue of fuel oil for the plant, the success in Gaza has been to mix solar industrial gasoline from Israel, which costs about 6 shekels with non-industrial Egyptian solar which is smuggled in and which costs 1.7 shekels. This increases Egypt’s profit and reduces Israel’s. It has also reduced the cost to the consumer by 40%.
If you add to this that Abusisi and his colleagues have succeeded in bringing two turbines destroyed by Israel back online, now three of the four original ones are working. If you add to this the steep decline in the price of fuel, it’s possible this might be some motivation for Israeli intelligence, which wishes to disrupt everyday life in the ghetto, throw a spanner in the works.
There are other sources within Israel I respect who, while they do not know precisely what happened to Abusisi, do not believe that his apprehension was connected to his professional work. So since the security services wish to maintain the shroud of secrecy over this case, the best we can do at present is present educated guesses.
Yousef Abusisi, Dirar’s brother tells me that his grandfather came from the Negev village of Houj, within the 1948 boundaries of Israel. Before the war, the townspeople were supportive of the Haganah and even hid operatives from arrest by Egyptian and British forces. But after the war began, the residents were driven out and not allowed to return. Though Ben Gurion objected to their expulsion, he pointedly refused to allow them to return.
From Houj, the Abusisi family fled to Gaza. Eventually, Dirar’s father brought the family to Jordan where he was raised.
This is the recompense Palestinians receive who befriended the pre-State Jewish forces. They are expelled during the Nakba, and then one of their sons is kidnapped by Israeli intelligence with the collusion of a dirty Ukrainian intelligence apparatus. Let it not be said that Israel doesn’t repay the loyalty of its Palestinian citizens, nay by a hundred fold.
7 thoughts on “Israeli NGO Wins Partial Lifting of Abusisi Gag – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم”
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This is the first official admission by Israel that they had indeed arrested and detained Abu Sisi. Look at the timing of this announcement and of the lifting of the gag. It looks like they had waited until the end of Ukraine’s prime-minister Azarov’s visit and made this announcement after he left. Perhaps, they didn’t want to embarass Ukraine and Azarov personally. I wonder if national or international press can now confront Azarov and other Ukrainian officials to respond to this story.
RE: “Israeli NGO Wins Partial Lifting of Abusisi Gag” – R.S.
THE MARQUIS DE SADE SEZ (posthumously):“So many gags, so little time! Israel certainly seems to have more (court ordered) ‘gags’ than any sadomasochistic ‘dungeon’ could ever have. Bravo! Magnifique! J’approuve!”
This gasoline price “explanation” is interesting. Far to little attention has been given to that how much Israel actually profits from the occupation (West Bank and Gaza) by forcing Palestinians to be de facto a part of Israeli economy.
An economy of 10 million people (5+5 million) is much bigger than the one of those 5 million belonging to the Master Race, even the purchasing power of the slaves is smaller. What would be Israel if all the UN, US, EU and Arab money intended for Palestinians would not be used to buy goods and services from the Israeli whole sellers and domestic producers. On the other hand how much more developed would Jordan and Egypt be if the material flow for the Palestinians would have had come from those countries all these decades.
For example Israel’s Dor Alon Energy, a subsidiary of the Israel Oil Company, Ltd., has been the exclusive supplier of refined petroleum products and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to the Palestinian Authority, at about a half-million gallons per day in 2005. The company has a contract with the PA to supply more than 200 gasoline (and natural gas) filling stations. Such deals make probably a few Palestinians ultra rich and the Jewish side certainly doesn’t do this business as a welfare or for human rights reasons. And there must be tens of equal local corrupt monopolies.
This occupation has been one of the most lucrative businesses on the earth, because others pay for the costs of the occupation. USA pays in reality the guarding costs of these giant moneymaking concentration camps. Ironically everybody else pay part of the living costs of the occupied people besides Israel, the occupier. Israel gets a big market where it can dump some of the production that is not suitable for more developed markets. In West Bank Israel can take land basically for free, develop it by building houses, using naturally almost free Palestinian labour, and finally sell it to Jewish customers with the price of building + land. The extra profit margin is that market value of that “free” land. Who wants to make peace and give up this giant lucrative moneymaking generator.
No, my blog isn’t mentioned by Melman because he’s punishing me. He told me my Israeli source was wrong in claiming Ali Reza Asgari was in an Israeli prison & though I reported his doubts & credited them here, Melman takes things like this very hard and personally. So I’m persona non grata in his reporting.
There is no problem with reporting material from foreign media under the gag. I’m foreign media.
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This is the first official admission by Israel that they had indeed arrested and detained Abu Sisi. Look at the timing of this announcement and of the lifting of the gag. It looks like they had waited until the end of Ukraine’s prime-minister Azarov’s visit and made this announcement after he left. Perhaps, they didn’t want to embarass Ukraine and Azarov personally. I wonder if national or international press can now confront Azarov and other Ukrainian officials to respond to this story.
RE: “Israeli NGO Wins Partial Lifting of Abusisi Gag” – R.S.
THE MARQUIS DE SADE SEZ (posthumously):“So many gags, so little time! Israel certainly seems to have more (court ordered) ‘gags’ than any sadomasochistic ‘dungeon’ could ever have. Bravo! Magnifique! J’approuve!”
This gasoline price “explanation” is interesting. Far to little attention has been given to that how much Israel actually profits from the occupation (West Bank and Gaza) by forcing Palestinians to be de facto a part of Israeli economy.
An economy of 10 million people (5+5 million) is much bigger than the one of those 5 million belonging to the Master Race, even the purchasing power of the slaves is smaller. What would be Israel if all the UN, US, EU and Arab money intended for Palestinians would not be used to buy goods and services from the Israeli whole sellers and domestic producers. On the other hand how much more developed would Jordan and Egypt be if the material flow for the Palestinians would have had come from those countries all these decades.
For example Israel’s Dor Alon Energy, a subsidiary of the Israel Oil Company, Ltd., has been the exclusive supplier of refined petroleum products and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to the Palestinian Authority, at about a half-million gallons per day in 2005. The company has a contract with the PA to supply more than 200 gasoline (and natural gas) filling stations. Such deals make probably a few Palestinians ultra rich and the Jewish side certainly doesn’t do this business as a welfare or for human rights reasons. And there must be tens of equal local corrupt monopolies.
This occupation has been one of the most lucrative businesses on the earth, because others pay for the costs of the occupation. USA pays in reality the guarding costs of these giant moneymaking concentration camps. Ironically everybody else pay part of the living costs of the occupied people besides Israel, the occupier. Israel gets a big market where it can dump some of the production that is not suitable for more developed markets. In West Bank Israel can take land basically for free, develop it by building houses, using naturally almost free Palestinian labour, and finally sell it to Jewish customers with the price of building + land. The extra profit margin is that market value of that “free” land. Who wants to make peace and give up this giant lucrative moneymaking generator.
Did you ever wonder that perhaps your blog isn’t mentioned because the mentioning of such censor-bypassing blogs is censored itself?
The oil aspect of the issue is fascinating and eye-opening.
No, my blog isn’t mentioned by Melman because he’s punishing me. He told me my Israeli source was wrong in claiming Ali Reza Asgari was in an Israeli prison & though I reported his doubts & credited them here, Melman takes things like this very hard and personally. So I’m persona non grata in his reporting.
There is no problem with reporting material from foreign media under the gag. I’m foreign media.
A minor point: by “solar gasoline” you probably mean Diesel fuel (called “soler” in Hebrew), which (regrettably) has nothing to do with solar power 🙂
Probably called “solar” in Arabic as well I’m guessing, as I believe the information may’ve been translated from Arabic.