US rights group demands Israel release Florida boy held for months
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the Trump administration to force Israel to free a Palestinian American boy from incarceration.
Mohammed Ibrahim, 16, has been detained by the Israeli military since February after he was seized in the occupied West Bank near Ramallah.
“The abuse and imprisonment of an American teenager by any other foreign power would be met with outrage and decisive action by our government,” CAIR’s Hiba Rahim said in a statement.
“The Trump administration must be America and American citizens first and secure the release of Mohammad Ibrahim from Israel immediately. This 16-year-old from Florida belongs at home, safe with his family – not in Israeli military prisons notorious for human rights abuses.”
More than two dozen US lawmakers have signed a letter calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to secure the release of Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian American boy imprisoned by Israel for eight months.
“We are concerned about reports of the mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities and prisons, including both of the prisons that have held Mohammed,” said the letter signed by 27 members of Congress.
“As we have been told repeatedly, ‘The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad,’” it added. “We share that view and urge you to fulfil this responsibility by engaging the Israeli government directly to secure the swift release of this American boy.”
