Israel Radio reported today that the Petah Tikvah court rejected (as is always the case in such security matters) Dirar Abusisi’s appeal against the extension of his detention as had been requested by the Shabak and prosecutor. So this coming Thursday will bring another hearing at which it’s ‘put up or shut up’ time for Shabak. They’ve already extended his remand well beyond the normal 30 days which is a clear due process violation. Smadar Ben Natan, Abusisi’s attorney, told Kol Yisrael that Shabak will get no further extensions and must file charges by the next hearing.
I have appealed to Israeli human rights activists to demonstrate their solidarity at the Petah Tikvah court at 2PM on Thursday. I think we owe this much to Dirar and his family. In addition, it’s important that the security services know that there are Israelis opposed to Israel’s flagrant disregard for all norms of due process and international law both regarding his detention inside Israel and the collusion with Ukrainian and Jordanian Mukhabarat. We are accustomed to talking about the dark, violent nature of the Arab secret service agencies. But now we must acknowledge the existence of an Israeli Mukhabarat, which perhaps has learned a few lessons from their Arab counterparts.
I wonder when charges will be proferred. The extended use of the gag order – in this and several other current cases – is very distorting to Israeli media coverage. A disturbing case.