London, United Kingdom – British student Finn Joughin has been deported from Israel following his pro-Palestine activism in the occupied West Bank. The 22-year-old worked in the village of Umm al-Khair as an international volunteer with Proactive Presence, the movement that aims to protect Palestinian communities from settler attacks. 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.
They took my phone and wallet off me. They demanded to see my passport. They were kind of making accusations at me,” he said.
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.
But once I heard the police arrived, maybe half an hour later, it dawned on me that I was about to be arrested.” 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.
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