Israel’s administrative detention crimes – where is the outcry?

JVL Introduction

Writer and lawyer Selma Dabbagh shines a spotlight on Israel’s use of administrative detention to deprive thousands of Palestinians of their liberty, to abuse them and use them as pawns in hostage release negotiations.

She writes: “In December 2022 there were 791 Palestinians in administrative detention in Israel. By December 2024 the number had increased more than fourfold to 3327 – over a third of the nearly ten thousand Palestinians being held prisoner by Israel on security grounds.”

In a spare and matter-of-fact reporting style, Dabbagh paints a grim picture of the treatment meted out to detainees, including women and children, in clear breach of international norms.

If our media paid these detainees a fraction of the attention it gives to Israelis held in Gaza, the resulting outcry would force our political leaders to stop their collaboration with Israel’s genocidal regime.

(Please consider subscribing to the London Review of Books for access to a wealth of high-quality article like this.)

See also Selma Dabbagh’s contribution to Na’amod’s day of solidarity with Palestinian booksellers.

NWI

This article was originally published by London Review of Books on Wed 5 Mar 2025. Read the original here.