While so much focus in the independent US media is spent critiquing how unjust our treatment of “enemy combatants” is, rarely does it cross our minds that we’ve been giving the green light to Israel to use the same tactics of kidnap, assassination, torture, and false charges against Palestinians for decades.

Jamal Akkal had planned to travel to occupied Gaza in 2003 to meet up with his fiancée, who lived in the same community he had been born. Days before his arrival, Israel was committing what Amnesty International described as a “war crime” by conducting one of their usual incursions into Rafah. They had destroyed 170 houses and killed 8 people. During Akkal’s stay, 8 more people were killed and 49 were wounded. As his trip came to an end and he headed towards Egypt to fly home, Akkal was arrested by border officials and held for over a month without being charged for any crime.

While in Israeli custody, Akkal was tied uncomfortably in a chair with his hands behind his back and deprived of sleep for days. After being subjected to 20 days of intense psychological torture, Akkal signed a confession stating that he was a Hamas assassin with plans to attack random Jewish people in Canada by attaching bombs to their front doors. Israel said his strategy was to follow people home who wore skullcaps. This is a particularly interesting fabrication, not only for its laughable plot, but because of the fact that Hamas has never been active outside the Middle East. Israel explained this odd development in their story by claiming that these attacks would have been secretly planned by Hamas, but that al-Qaeda would take public responsibility. Therefore, not only was Israel able to portray Hamas as an international threat to all Jews, but they were also able to link the party to al-Qaeda and the events of 9/11. It should also be noted that the confession Akkal signed was written in Hebrew, a language he does not understand.

It’s safe to say that the only reason we’re even hearing about Jamal Akkal’s case is because he’s a Canadian citizen. Palestinians have no rights, and Akkal could have been held indefinitely or simply assassinated had his citizenship not put him in the papers. Still, it obviously wasn’t enough as Akkal’s calls for the Canadian government to intervene fell of deaf ears. It was fairly obvious that Israeli military courts should not have had jurisdiction over Akkal, nor should Israel have jurisdiction over anyone in the occupied territories as its occupation is illegal under international law. “I’m innocent, I didn’t do anything.” Akkal stated after being released, “I spent four years in jail for nothing.”

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