Last month, I discovered the Shabak was secretly holding a foreign citizen on suspicion of serious security offences. I tweeted this on November 26th (see tweet below). But I could not obtain further information except that his name was “Adam L.”
This morning, an Israeli journalist confirmed the story in an e mail to me, and within an hour the Shabak “coincidentally” released a full account of the arrest and charges against him. The police report noted that he’d been indicted. Haaretz’s Hebrew language story here. The AP story is here:
SCOOP: Israeli Shin Bet orders secret arrest of westerner named “Adam L.” on suspicion of “sensitive security violations.”
— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) November 26, 2014
As you read MSM accounts of this story and see this fact omitted, you may wonder why.
The suspect is Adam Livvix, age 30, a resident of Texas and wanted there on drug charges. Though there are indications he may be from Illinois, where other close family members live. He appears to have jumped bail in the U.S. As a a fugitive on the run, he might’ve fled to the West Bank to avoid capture. The journalist told me that Livvix is a Christian fundamentalist and “probably not very stable.”
According to the Shabak release, he first traveled to the West Bank, where he lived in Hebron. After boasting about serving in the Navy SEALS, Palestinians allegedly solicited him to join in an attempt to assassinate Pres. Obama during his trip to Israel last year. They offered him a sniper rifle to use as the weapon. He purportedly refused, but the Shabak began to investigate him at that point. Later, he came to Israel and moved in with a roommate who was an IDF solider. Livvix told him that he was a former Navy SEAL, and bought stolen Israeli military munitions from him. His goal was to blow up Muslim holy places.
I find the alleged assassination plot to be the most lacking in credibility. I simply don’t believe Palestinians would attempt to assassinate the U.S. president. It’s possible that Livvix approached settlers or Palestinians with this goal in mind. But not for Palestinians to have initiated such a plot. Further, can you imagine a Palestinian militant approaching a deranged Christian fundamentalist American in Hebron to join a plot to assassinate an American president? They would have to be very stupid terrorists. I would challenge the Shabak to produce any evidence justifying this claim.
Livvix was secretly arrested last month and has been held incommunicado at Ayalon Prison since then. The Shin Bet statement claims that the FBI has been apprised of the arrest. I asked the agency for comment and they released this:
“We are aware of the recent arrest of an American citizen in Israel and are currently working with the Israeli authorities to assist in their investigation. The FBI continues to work closely with our counterparts in Israel to identify, apprehend, and hold accountable those who threaten the public with violence.”
This would presume that the domestic intelligence agency endorsed the Israeli secret police’s abusive treatment of Livvix. It also goes a long way to presuming Livvix’s guilt since it presumes he “threatened the public with violence.” My impression was that this needed to be proven in a court of law and couldn’t be presumed. But given today’s release of the CIA terror report and the revelations of U.S. torture of suspected Al Qaeda militants, it appears we’re fine with Shabak’s torture techniques as well, even if used on U.S. citizens. In fact, the CIA has exploited Israeli use of torture as a justifying precedent for its own brutality.
Generally, the Israelis arrest Jewish and Palestinians security suspects in secret. They gag the media from reporting the story. They hold victims without charge and without legal representation for periods of time determined solely by the secret police in collaboration with a malleable judicial system. They use abusive interrogation techniques, even ones specifically excluded by Supreme Court rulings. This is what Adam Livvix has endured. He has, in this case, the benefit of not being Palestinian and holding U.S. citizenship, so they probably went somewhat easy on him. That is, comparatively easy, since U.S. officialdom has apparently washed its hands of him.
One also has to wonder why the Shin Bet did not question him after he was unsuccessfully recruited for the supposed assassination attempt on the U.S. President, and only arrested him after he began planning terror attacks against Muslims.
Why is it when the U.S. exports human beings to Israel they tend to be lunatics like Livvix or Jewish terrorists like Jack Teitel, Ephraim Khantsis and others? Why are our haters and human flotsam drawn to Israel? It would be wrong for anyone to label Livvix a nutcase and outlier. He and the comrades I listed above are the Ugly Face of Israeli extremism. But Israel extremism rules Israel. If you tapped into Bibi Netanyahu’s sub-conscious, the miasma floating around in there wouldn’t be terribly different from what’s in the mind of Adam Levvix. Bibi’s Jewish, shrewder, wears better suits and has a nicer accent. Other than that…
I’ve just asked the State Department for comment about the case. This is their statement in full:
We have seen these reports. The Department of State takes its obligation to assist U.S. citizens abroad seriously. When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all possible consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations we are unable to comment further.
This means that Livvix would have to waive his right to privacy in order for State to comment publicly. But it could easily mean diplomatic officers in Israel did not approach him to ask for such a waiver; or that the Shin Bet refused to allow them to visit him. At any rate, State is refusing to tell us whether they had any contact with him, which is unacceptable.
While I find Livvix to be an odious character based on these reports, I’m proud that once again my Israeli partners and I have been able to penetrate the opaque national security state to guarantee that no prisoners are disappeared without access to legal representation and their rights. This appears not yet fully to be the case with Livix, but the process has begun.’
Please support this important work through a donation. Thanks to several Israeli sources for help in breaking this story.
Israel’s Ministry of Justice said that a court had indicted Adam Everett Livix in connection with the plot. It said that Livix conspired with his roommate, an active soldier in the Israeli military, to obtain 1.4kg (3lb) of explosive material to use to blow up the unidentified Jerusalem holy sites. The ministry said the plot was discovered by a police agent in October.
Thanks Richard for your terrific work! You are so right: Everyone deserves legal representation, even persons that we may find unpleasant. This attitude of yours is why I admire what you do here so much, so I made a donation (which was long overdue anyway, I am ashamed to say !). Keep up the good work!
Nah! The targets were Muslim and he is a “Freedom” and Israel loving Christian American so the “crime” is not so bad. My bet is they will hold him for a brief while and then they will deport him to the US on grounds of mental instability.
Pardon my cynicism…
Cynicism??? Every detail about this guy screams INSANE. As RS wrote, the plot to kill Preside Obama either never existed or wasn’t suggested by Palestinians.
Against common-beliefs, insanity plee isn’t accepted often in israeli justice system when it comes to hate crimes.
Livvix, 30, is also wanted in the U.S. on drug charges. The Jerusalem Post reports that Livvix fled the U.S. for Israel because of these charges. According to the website Fugitive Recovery, Livvix is wanted in Indiana on marijuana possession and failure to appear charges. The website notes that he was living in Robinson, Illinois, at the time of his arrest. In 2008, it was reported that Livvix, along with his brother Charles, was arrested for stealing aluminum siding and “other construction metal” in Mattoon, Illinois.
From the JPost:
The second indictment says that a soldier named as “BB”, also an American citizen, stole two explosive bricks in August 2014 from his base and asked his friend “GG” to help him get rid of them. GG later met Livvix, who told him he was looking to acquire explosives. GG told Livvix about BB, and said he would put them in touch. On October 21, GG and Livvix agreed that Livvix would pay NIS 4,000 for two explosive bricks.
Livvix asked for more time to get the money together, and in the meantime, on November 3, BB sold the bricks to an undercover military police officer.
The third indictment states that at some point during 2013, Livvix lived on Moshava Kinneret by the Sea of Galilee. At the moshav he met “DD,” who lived on Moshav Avnei Eitan on the Golan Heights. DD told Livvix that a soldier living in his apartment had bricks of C4 plastic explosive and was keeping them in a closet.
○ Palestinian minister dies after West Bank confrontation with Israeli soldiers
Palestinian autopsy reveals minister died from heart attack
‘Abu Ein was a heavy smoker’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4602214,00.html
@ porter: This sort of bullshit really annoys me. The next commenter who tries to absolve the Border Police thugs of responsibility for Abu Ein’s killing/murder will be moderated or banned. So go ahead, try me.
Since the Republicans in Congress insist on Guantanamo being kept open, Israel should turn this dangerous terrorist over to the U.S. so he can be sent to Guantanamo to be “detained” in perpetuity.
That should make the Republicans real happy for a change!
Really, what else could be done with such mad hat than make him disappear in a dark cell? He might be labeled as a schizophrenic and thus would end in an easily escapable psychiatric institution only to come back again and blew off something or someone, succeeding perhaps even in stirring up a new blood orgy between the Jews and the Palestinians.
What kind of “Christian fundamentalist” messes with Mary Jane??