Israel deports British activist who protected Palestinian children

O jovem de 22 anos atuou na aldeia de Umm al-Khair como voluntário internacional junto à Proactive Presence, movimento que busca proteger comunidades palestinas de ataques de colonos.

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He was kidnapped by Israeli settlers at gunpoint on August 29 after intervening to protect Palestinian children playing football in the village in Masafer Yatta.

Umm al-Khair is an area of the southern West Bank under Israeli administrative and security control, which was designated as Area C under the Oslo Accords. Palestinian communities there have been under continuous attack by Israeli settlers in recent months and years.

Local and foreign activists intervened to protect the children, with young settlers trying to force open the gates of the home of one of Umm al-Khair’s residents.

Joughin tried to block the settlers from tearing down a fence but was kicked and shoved by the group. Adult settlers arrived and put Joughin in a chokehold and twisted his arm around his back.

Videos shared on social media showed him being taken back to the illegal Carmel settler outpost at gunpoint.

Settlers accused him of being an “anarchist” and commented on his supposed “friends in Iran”.

Joughin was held captive by armed settlers for around 30 minutes before the Israeli army arrived and he was taken to a police station in the settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron.

When he told soldiers that he had been kidnapped by settlers, he said he was insulted and shouted and spat at.

A lawyer told Joughin that police were investigating him on suspicion of assault. However, police later told him that a “higher authority” had decided to keep him in custody, before he was formall arrested.

The next day, he was taken in handcuffs to the magistrate’s court in occupied Jerusalem. His lawyer and the public prosecutor agreed that instead of continuing legal proceedings, he would be deported to the UK.

At an immigration detention centre near Ben Gurion International Airport, investigators questioned his reasons for being in the West Bank, his positions on Israel and the war on Gaza and Iran.

During his detention, Joughin saw a badly bruised Palestinian detainee begging his mother not to protest, fearing she would also be arrested.

After being threatened with extended detention, he signed deportation papers and waived his right to appeal. He was deported to Britain on August 31 and has been barred from returning to Israel or the occupied Palestinian Territory for 10 years.

The village has been repeatedly targeted by settler attacks in recent years. A local Palestinian activist was shot dead last year and a settler has been charged with his death.

Masafer Yatta is among the Palestinian communities in the West Bank to suffer a series of pogroms by Israeli settlers in recent weeks.

Settlers and Israeli troops have carried out 11,074 attacks in the West Bank during the first half of this year, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

When reached for comment, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We provided consular support to a British man who was detained in Umm al Kheir and were in contact with his family and the Israeli authorities.”.

Al Jazeera approached the Israeli military for comment.

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