The Trump administration remained silent when pressed this week on the arrest and alleged abuse of an American teenager by the Israeli government, Zeteo exclusively reported on Tuesday.
According to Zeteo’s Prem Thakker, an American teenager “with Texas roots,” Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi, was taken from his home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank “in the middle of the night” in late June, and as of Tuesday, is still being held in an Israeli prison on administrative detention, an order that allows the government to imprison individuals without charge or trial.
Safi’s father told Zeteo he had “no information” about his son, that he was “deeply concerned about his health” after being told by a U.S. embassy official that he claimed to have been beaten on his first day of detention, and that his detention may be indefinitely renewed.
When pressed for comment on Safi, who was detained days before his 18th birthday, the Trump White House, the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Israel did not respond.
According to Zeteo, Safi is being held at Ofer prison, a facility in the West Bank where inmates have reportedly been subjected to “frequent beatings, overcrowding and withholding of basic rations,” according to the Associated Press. Safi’s father also told Zeteo that he feared his son is suffering from scabies, a contagious skin infestation, which he claimed to have been told by a prisoner released from an Israeli prison.
Safi is just one of at least three young Americans currently being held in Israeli prisons, with Safi’s cousin, Sama Safi, being among them.
“In early June, in the middle of the night, Israeli officers raided 20-year-old Sama Safi’s home in Ramallah. She was then held without formal charges for weeks,” Zeteo’s report reads.
“Eventually, authorities accused her of involvement with a student organization they allege is affiliated with a ‘terrorist group.’ Sama Safi, who has ties to Tampa, Florida, denies the allegations. She suffers from a chronic medical condition that can cause severe fevers and pain. And yet after nearly 16 weeks, she remains in prison, with inadequate access to food and medical care.”
Adam Karakrah, a 16-year-old American “with ties to Chicago," is the third known young American being held in an Israeli prison. Israeli authorities reportedly disregarded Karakrah’s U.S. citizenship.
“When I showed them his U.S. passport and birth certificate, they didn’t even ask [about it], they threw them in my face,” Karakrah’s sister previously told Zeteo.