"It was a great joy to meet with Layan Nasir in Birzeit yesterday after her release from Israeli prison. Layan is a Palestinian Christian who worships at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit. I’m grateful to Layan’s family for their hospitality in their home. I will pray for them, and for God’s blessing and healing for Layan after the terrible ordeal of her incarceration. I pray for the release of all people who have been unjustly imprisoned, here in Palestine and Israel and around the world." Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury 

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It was a great joy to meet with Layan Nasir in Birzeit yesterday after her release from Israeli prison. 

 

Layan is a Palestinian Christian who worships at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit.

 

I’m grateful to Layan’s family for their hospitality in their home. I will pray for them, and for God’s blessing and healing for Layan after the terrible ordeal of her incarceration. 

 

I pray for the release of all people who have been unjustly imprisoned, here in Palestine and Israel and around the world.

 

 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1612058486957056&set=pcb.1612058696957035

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Israeli prisons continue to function as a network of torture camps for Palestinians, with the systematic abuse even more extensive than before. This includes physical and psychological abuse, inhuman conditions, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care, all of which has led to numerous deaths. Some witnesses also described undergoing or witnessing sexual violence and abuse. The transformation of prisons into a network of torture camps is part of the Israeli regime’s coordinated onslaught on Palestinian society

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https://www.btselem.org/publications/202601_living_hell 

January 2026 

“Living Hell” follows on B’Tselem’s August 2024 report “Welcome to Hell.” Building on the extensive research and analysis carried out for the previous report, it provides updated figures and new testimonies from 21 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in recent months, and draws on data from other Israeli and international human rights organizations. The updated information indicates that Israeli prisons continue to function as a network of torture camps for Palestinians, with the systematic abuse even more extensive than before. This includes physical and psychological abuse, inhuman conditions, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care, all of which has led to numerous deaths. Some witnesses also described undergoing or witnessing sexual violence and abuse. The transformation of prisons into a network of torture camps is part of the Israeli regime’s coordinated onslaught on Palestinian society, aimed at dismantling the Palestinian collective.

• Download report "Living Hell"
• View previous report: "Welcome to Hell", August 2024
• List of Palestinians who died in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023

 

Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank. 

B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.

Mahmoud Khalil: When Speaking for Palestine Becomes a Crime Mahmoud Khalil is a political prisoner and his unlawful detainment is being used to set precedent implementing facisct policies reminiscent of McCarthy Era First Amendment restrictions

Ahmad Ibsais

Mar 12, 2025

 

Mahmoud Khalil joins a long lineage of political prisoners detained for advocating just causes throughout American history. From Eugene Debs imprisoned for opposing World War I, to Japanese Americans interned during World War II for their heritage alone, to Civil Rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. who wrote his famous 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' while detained for peaceful protest.

 

As a Palestinian, I learned very young that our very existence was a form of protest. Every family gathering that turned into a political discussion and every celebration existed in defiance of forces that would rather see us disappear. This is why the detention of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil strikes at the core of my being—I recognize in his abduction the same suffocating tactics used to silence Palestinians for generations, now deployed on American soil against those who dare speak our name.

Khalil’s detention by ICE agents on March 8, marks a watershed moment in American democracy. As his pregnant wife watched helplessly, government agents took away a legal permanent resident whose only "crime" was serving as a negotiator in campus protests calling for university divestment from companies profiting from Israel's Genocide on Gaza.

Let us be clear: Mahmoud Khalil is a political prisoner—detained not for any recognizable crime, but for criticizing Israel. There is no law against calling for the end of Genocide, nor should there be in a constitutional democracy. Yet the Trump administration has effectively created such a crime, linking legitimate criticism of a colonial state to “antisemitism,” by abducting and detaining a green card holder solely for his political expression.

After Khalil's detention, the official White House Instagram account published an image of him with the words "Shalom Mahmoud" plastered across it—a chilling taunt that reveals the administration's contempt for due process and basic human dignity. His temporary disappearance into the ICE detention system—his lawyers couldn't locate him for over 24 hours—mirrors the tactics of authoritarian regimes worldwide.

What makes this moment particularly dangerous is that it didn't begin with Trump. It was precisely the Biden-Harris administration's demonization of student protesters as antisemitic that laid the groundwork for Trump's assault on Columbia and other universities. In January 2025, a far-right pro-Israel group submitted a list of students with visas to the Trump administration, urging their deportation for pro-Palestine advocacy. Within days, the administration issued an executive order threatening visa revocation for protesters. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the agenda explicit, writing: "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported."

Across American universities, suppression has manifested in student expulsions, organizations being disbanded, and unprecedented surveillance: nine universities have forcibly shut down their Students for Justice in Palestine chapters; Columbia University expelled three students; and UCLA reportedly spent $12 million to surveil and challenge student protesters. This institutional violence mirrors the academic purges of the McCarthy era, when professors were blacklisted for ideological nonconformity.... READ MORE  https://ahmadibsais.substack.com/p/mahmoud-khalil-when-speaking-for?publication_id=1020749&post_id=158862987&isFreemail=true&r=34riug&triedRedirect=true

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Israel passes law allowing Palestinian children under 14 to be jailed: More than 270 Palestinian minors are currently held in Israeli detention, despite UN resolutions and international treaties prohibiting the imprisonment of children, according to Palestinian right groups.

Israeli soldiers detain a 10-year-old Palestinian boy Ismail en-Nicce in Hebron, West Bank on September 23, 2021. ]Amer Shallodi – Anadolu Agency]

 The Israeli Knesset passed a law yesterday authorising the detention of Palestinian minors under the age of 14, Anadolu reported.

The bill was approved in the second and third readings by 55 votes to 33, the Knesset said in a statement.

The legislation, a temporary five-year measure, allows courts to order the detention of children under 14 in closed facilities if convicted of murder involving “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Upon reaching 14, the child would continue to serve their sentence in prison, according to the statement.

The measure could be extended by up to two years upon approval from the justice and welfare ministers and the Knesset’s Constitution Committee.

The law also includes a three-year provision allowing courts to jail minors in prison instead of juvenile facilities for up to ten days if they are deemed dangerous or pose a threat to others. Courts may also extend this period if circumstances warrant, the Knesset said.

More than 270 Palestinian minors are currently held in Israeli detention, despite UN resolutions and international treaties prohibiting the imprisonment of children, according to Palestinian right groups.

The Knesset also passed a controversial law that allows the deportation of family members of Palestinians involved in attacks against Israelis.

The legislation is widely seen to be targeting Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of the occupied East Jerusalem.... READ MORE  https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241108-israel-passes-law-allowing-palestinian-children-under-14-to-be-jailed/

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