Nighttime Israeli arrests haunt Palestinian kids and families

BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Yousef Mesheh was sleeping in his bunk bed when Israeli forces stormed into his home at 3 a.m.

Within moments, the 15-year-old Palestinian said he was lying on the floor as troops punched him, shouting insults. A soldier struck his mother’s chest with his rifle butt and locked her in the bedroom, where she screamed for her sons.

Yousef and his 16-year-old brother, Wael, were hauled out of their home in Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank. Yousef was in a sleeveless undershirt and couldn’t see without his glasses.

“I can’t forget that night,” Yousef told The Associated Press from his living room, decorated with photos of Wael, who remains in detention. “When I go to sleep I still hear the shooting and screaming.”

The Israeli military arrested and interrogated hundreds of Palestinian teenagers in 2022 in the occupied West Bank, without ever issuing a summons or notifying their families, according to an upcoming report by the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked.
The charges against those being arrested ranged from being in Israel without a permit to throwing stones or Molotov cocktails. Some teens say they were arrested to obtain information about neighbors or family members.

In the vast majority of the military’s pre-planned arrests of minors last year, children were taken from their homes in the dead of the night, HaMoked said. After being yanked out of bed, children as young as 14 were interrogated while sleep-deprived and disoriented. Water, food and access to toilets were often withheld. Yousef said soldiers beat him when he asked to relieve himself during his seven-hour journey to the detention center.

The Israeli army argues it has the legal authority to arrest minors at its discretion during late-night raids.

Lawyers and advocates say the tactic runs counter to Israel’s legal promises to alert parents about their children’s alleged offenses.

In response to a petition to the Supreme Court by HaMoked two years go, there had been some small improvement when Israel asked the military to first summon Palestinian parents about their accused children. But the progress was short-lived. Last year, the Israeli military rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank ages 12-17 in late-night arrests, according to HaMoked. Rights activists say they believe such tactics are meant to create fear.

“The fact that the military is making no effort to reduce these traumatic night arrests indicates to us that the trauma is part of the point,” said Jessica Montell, director of HaMoked. “This intimidation and terrorizing of communities seems actually part of the policy.”

According to figures reported to the Supreme Court, the army summoned Palestinian parents to question their children only a handful of times in 2021. Last year, not a single family received a summons in nearly 300 cases HaMoked tracked in the West Bank.

Petty offenses and cases where children were released without charge — as happened to Yousef — were no exception. HaMoked said the numbers are incomplete because it believes scores of similar cases are never reported.

“They are not implementing the procedure they created themselves,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director for Defense for Children International in the Palestinian territories. “The beating and mistreatment of children during night arrests is really what we’re concerned about.”

In response to a request for comment, the Israeli military said it tries to summon Palestinian children suspected of minor offenses who have no history of serious criminal convictions. But, the army argued, this policy does not apply to serious offenses or “when a summons to an investigation would harm its purpose.”

The army would not comment on Yousef’s arrest, but said his brother, Wael, faces charges related to “serious financial crimes,” including “contacting the enemy,” “illegally bringing in money” and helping “an illegal organization.” These charges typically reflect cases of Palestinians communicating with people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Although HaMoked found most cases were soon dropped, the late-night arrests haunted children long after.

Since his Nov. 7 arrest, Yousef “is not like he was before,” said his mother, Hanadi Mesheh, who also recounted her ordeal to the AP. He can’t focus in school. He no longer plays soccer. She sleeps beside him some nights, holding him during his nightmares.

“I feel like I’m always being watched,” Yousef said. “I’m frightened when my mother wakes me in the morning for school.”

Similar stories abound in the area. The northern city of Nablus emerged as a major flashpoint for violence last year after Israel began a crackdown in the West Bank in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks in Israel.

Last year Israeli forces killed at least 146 Palestinians, including 34 children, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported, making 2022 the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank in 18 years. According to the Israeli army, most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed. Palestinian attacks, meanwhile, killed at least 31 Israelis last year.

Israel says the operations are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians have decried the raids as collective punishment aimed at cementing Israel’s open-ended 55-year-old occupation of lands they want for a future state. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Nighttime arrest raids are not limited to the West Bank. Israeli police also carry out regular raids in Palestinian neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

Last fall in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Rania Elias heard pounding on the door before dawn. Her youngest son, 16-year-old Shadi Khoury, was sleeping in his underwear. Israeli police burst into their home, shoved Khoury to the floor and pummeled his face. Blood was everywhere, she said, as police dragged him to a Jerusalem detention center for interrogation.

“You can’t imagine what it’s like to feel helpless to save your child,” Elias said.

In response to a request for comment, the Israeli police said they charged Khoury with being part of a group that threw stones at a Jewish family’s car on Oct. 12, wounding a passenger.

Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new ultra-nationalist government, parents say they fear for their children more than ever. Some of the most powerful ministers are Israeli settlers who promise a hard-line stance against the Palestinians.

“This is the darkest moment,” said activist Murad Shitawi, whose 17-year-old son Khaled was arrested last March in a night raid on their home in the West Bank town of Kfar Qaddum. “I’m worried for my sons.”

By ISABEL DEBRE

Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Balata refugee camp, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Ted Cruz Called Out For Hypocrisy After Mocking Joe Biden's Tropical Vacation

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) either has a very bad memory or simply likes being humiliated.

That’s the only reasonable explanation for why he attempted to mock President Joe Biden for vacationing in the US Virgin Islands while much of the U.S. is plagued by a frigid winter storm.

Although it can be argued that having the president sunbathing in St. Croix while many of his fellow Americans are shivering makes for bad optics, Cruz is the wrong person to make that argument.

How so? You might remember the smarmy Texas Republican came under fire in February 2021, after he jetted off to Cancun, Mexico, avoiding power outages in his state caused by historic winter weather.\

Originally reported by: David Moye on Wed, December 28, 2022 at 3:50 PM EST

Florida investigating ‘Drag Queen Christmas’ show. It was billed as ‘adult content.’

Florida’s top business regulators are investigating complaints against “A Drag Queen Christmas” annual event in Fort Lauderdale that, according to the organizer, required attendees who were minors to be accompanied by a parent and warned about “adult themes and content.”

It is the second time this year in which Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is scrutinizing a drag queen performance for allegedly exposing children to a “sexually explicit performance.” Both politically tinged investigations stemmed from complaints that were amplified by conservative activists on social media.

The investigations come as Republicans across the country increasingly criticize drag performances, which involve entertainers of all genders dressing in elaborate and sometimes provocative costumes and enacting choreographed routines that feature songs from popular artists.

DeSantis, who is widely believed to be considering a run for president in 2024, has vowed to hold accountable businesses that expose children to “sexualized content,” and his office has hinted at potential criminal charges, though none have been filed.

“Exposing children to sexually explicit activity is a crime in Florida, and such action violates the Department’s licensing standards for operating a business and holding a liquor license,” DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday. The statement was first shared with the conservative blog The Floridian.

The investigation is being handled by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which has arrest powers. But the governor’s office said the extent of the investigation into the Drag Queen Christmas annual event could extend to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for “potential criminal liability.”

A spokesperson for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, where the Christmas-themed drag queen event took place on Monday, said on Wednesday that the organization had not yet been contacted by the state.

Griffin wrote in his statement the event had been “marketed to children.” Later, he noted in an email that the touring show had, at various times, been promoted as open to all ages at venues across the state.

A spokesperson for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts contended that attendees were warned in a disclaimer that the show was intended for a mature audience.

“Admission is limited to patrons 18 years of age or over, unless accompanied by a parent,” read a Dec. 22 version of the performing arts center’s website touting the event, according to the internet archive.

The center appears to have amended that disclosure in the days leading up to the show. A Dec. 17 version of the event page claimed the event “was an all-ages show” that “may contain adult content.”

The performing arts organization’s spokesperson said ticket buyers were informed of the show’s adult themes in an email before the performance. The cast features former contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In a video posted on Twitter, conservative social media activist Chris Nelson was heard shouting at performers midway through the show about children being present at the event. The crowd booed him and the performer told him he was addressing a 35-year-old in the audience, not children.

“It is not right to have drag shows with children at all,” Nelson said as he was escorted out of the venue by law enforcement officers at the event.

“You should arrest them for having children at this thing,” he told the officers. “That is who you should be arresting.”

Nelson’s tweet of the video had been viewed more than 2 million times as of Wednesday.

If the state tries to revoke the center’s liquor licenses, it could be a serious regulatory blow. According to state records, the organization holds three such licenses. Two are licenses for performing arts organizations that serve beer, wine or liquor, and one is a broader license that allows consumption of beer, wine or liquor on the premises.

Events at the center for the performing arts are largely supported by donations to the nonprofit Broward Performing Arts Foundation, according to the center's website.

On Tuesday, Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Melanie Griffin sent a letter to event organizers of the drag show’s Miami stop at the James L. Knight Center, warning them they could lose their liquor license if they allow children to attend the event. The show took place on Tuesday night.

In August, Florida business regulators targeted a daytime Miami drag-queen show seen by children. They said the event was a public nuisance and proclaimed that the restaurant was violating a series of Florida criminal laws against “lewdness.”

That event was investigated by the state after a video, amplified to a national audience by Canadian conservative activist Lauren Chen, showed a partially clad drag performer leading around a little girl during a brunch performance.

“I actually want something to be done about this,” Chen said in a July 3 video posted on her YouTube Channel, which has half a million followers.

DeSantis said the state would seek to revoke the business’ liquor license, but no action has been taken yet.

“The situation is ongoing and R House ownership is continuing to work with the city Department of Business and Professional Regulation, through their attorney, to rectify the situation,” R House ownership said in a statement on Wednesday.

Originally reported by: Ana Ceballos, Kirby Wilson on Wed, December 28, 2022 at 1:35 PM EST

Palm Beach man, 41, impregnated a 13-year-old, cops say. He blames the rape on voodoo

West Palm Beach, FL - West Palm Beach man accused of the incestuous rape and impregnation of a 13-year-old child didn’t deny the charge, authorities say.

“...during a post-Miranda interview with [41-year-old Jean Innocent], he stated that he believes VOODOO caused him” to rape the girl, according to an arrest report by West Palm Beach police investigators.

Innocent remains in Palm Beach County Jail, charged with one count of incest, one count of impregnation of a child and two counts of sexual battery of a child in familial or custodial care. His bond is $28,000.

Innocent remains in Palm Beach County Jail, charged with one count of incest, one count of impregnation of a child and two counts of sexual battery of a child in familial or custodial care. His bond is $28,000.

Originally reported by: David J. Neal on Tue, December 27, 2022 at 5:20 PM EST

Taliban suspend university education for women in Afghanistan.

The Taliban government has suspended university education for all female students in Afghanistan, the latest step in its brutal clampdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women.

A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education confirmed the suspension to CNN on Tuesday. A letter published by the education ministry said the decision was made in a cabinet meeting and the order will go into effect immediately.

Girls were barred from returning to secondary school in March, after the Taliban ordered schools for girls to shut just hours after they were due to reopen following months long closures imposed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

Human Rights Watch criticized the ban on Tuesday, calling it a "shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan."

"The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don't respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women," the rights watchdog said in a statement.

After seizing power in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban attempted to project a more moderate image to gain international support.

But while it has has made numerous promises to the international community that it would protect the rights of women and girls, the Taliban has been doing the opposite, systematically clamping down on their rights and freedoms.

Women in Afghanistan can no longer work in most sectors, require a male guardian for long-distance travel and have been ordered to cover their faces in public.

Originally reported by: Ehsan Popalzai and Ivana Kottasová on December 20, 2022 via CNN.

‘Nothing short of shocking.’ Miami woman gets 5 years for wild DUI crash, carjacking, chase.

The facts of the case were bizarre and largely undisputed: Alexis Facey, a single mother, attended a friend’s birthday party at Tootsie’s strip club in Miami Gardens. After a free shot of liquor and many drinks, she climbed into her car and drove off.

“All I remember is waking up in a police car,” Facey, 35, told a Miami-Dade judge in a hearing earlier this fall.

Facey had caused a trail of mayhem on April 10, 2019: crashing alongside Interstate 95, then carjacking the truck of a man who stopped to help — his 63-year-old mother, an infant baby and two dogs in the back. That led to a frantic chase which ended when Facey plowed the stolen truck into two other vehicles in Miramar. The driver of one of those vehicles had to be extricated from her mangled SUV, her knee and ankle shattered, her liver lacerated.

For that fateful night, Facey is now going to prison. A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday sentenced Facey to five years in prison, followed by one year of “community control” and five years of probation.

“Ms. Facey’s actions cannot go unpunished,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer wrote in her 13-page order. “Her behavior on the evening was nothing short of shocking.”

But Venzer also rejected prosecutors’ request to sentence Facey to 20 years in prison, and went below the bottom of the sentencing guidelines of 15 1/2 years.

She pointed out the state routinely accepts minimum-mandatory plea deals of four years in prison for DUI manslaughter cases in which someone dies.

The judge also pointed out several egregious traffic cases involving deaths in which prosecutors offered less prison time than what they were asking for in Facey’s case. One example: The case of Shikenna Hasty, who killed three people in a Miami-Dade car crash in 2016 — she accepted a 10-year sentence.

Without a plea deal, Facey had earlier pleaded guilty to felony charges include robbery carjacking, kidnapping and driving under the influence involving serious property damage and serious bodily injury.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer, pictured here in 2017, sentenced Alexis Facey to five years in state prison, to be followed by one year of community control and five years of probation.
A Tearful Hearing

Her sentencing hearing, featuring emotional testimony on both sides, took place over two days in August.

The judge heard how when Facey left Tootsies, she crashed her car near Ives Dairy Road, her blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit. And she heard from the two drivers who pulled over on the northbound lanes of I-95 to offer assistance.

One of them, Jose Seijo, drove a black pickup truck. While he inspected Facey’s car and searched for any other passengers in what remained of her vehicle, Facey jumped in Seijo’s truck — his 63-year-old mother and an infant son were still in the cab.

“My life has had a before and after the accident,” said Emma Rosa Perez Ortega, the woman in the stolen truck, saying she has since suffered “a lot of panic attacks, a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression. And I’m constantly obsessed about watching my grandson, I don’t want him to get lost, not even for a minute.”

Seijo and Roselene Tur Perez, the parents of the baby, testified feeling like their family had fallen apart because of what they believed was a good deed.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen with my son, I didn’t know what was going to happen with my mother. I could have lost my whole family that night, just for stopping to help someone,” said Perez, who fell on the side of the highway while trying to open the door of the truck as it drove off.

The carjacking left more than more than emotional wounds.

Originally reported by: Natalia Galicza, David Ovalle for the Miami Herald. Fri, December 2, 2022

Florida formally dismisses QB Kitna amid child porn charges.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida has formally dismissed quarterback Jalen Kitna from the team following his arrest on five child pornography charges that police said included an image of a man having sex with a young girl.

The Gators scrubbed Kitna's name from their roster and his biography from their website late Thursday, just hours after Kitna's first court appearance. Kitna was released from jail on an $80,000 bond and ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors and no internet access.

Kitna, 19, returned with his parents, retired NFL quarterback Jon Kitna and wife Jennifer, to Burleson, Texas.

Although Kitna remained enrolled in classes Friday, the University Police Department issued him a trespass warning that bars him from campus for three years, pending the outcome of his court case. Kitna also would need to have to go through a student code of conduct hearing to be eligible to return, an unlikely outcome given the severity of the allegations.

Kitna sobbed into his hands during his 75-minute court appearance, which included attorneys on both sides arguing bond details and conditions of his release. He wore a solid green smock typically given to inmates being kept under close watch because of welfare concerns.

The Gainesville Police Department released Kitna’s arrest report Thursday, providing graphic details about the complaints filed against him.

Police said Kitna shared two mages of young girls being sexually abused via a social media platform, including one of a man having sex with a young girl.

Police later searched his phone and found three more images of two nude young girls in a shower — photos that had been saved to Kitna's phone in December 2021. The report did not estimate the ages of the girls.

Kitna’s lawyer Caleb Kenyon argued those three images could be considered child erotica instead of child porn.

Two of the five arresting charges, which still need to be formalized by the state attorney’s office, are second-degree felonies that could result in a prison term of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000. The other three are third-degree felonies.

The Gators suspended Kitna following his arrest on Wednesday and took the step of dismissing him a day later.

Originally reported by: Mark Long for AP on December 2, 2022