Here’s an example of the lack of transparency and dishonesty from the State Department that led to the most recent Wikileaks disclosures.
I have written previously about the case of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a non-violent Palestinian activist who was jailed for making a peace sculpture out of the many tear gas canisters and spent concussion grenades shot by Israel Defense Forces at people in the occupied village of Bi’lin. Recently Abdallah’s prison sentence was completed but Israel still keeps him locked away in Ofer Prison.
The case has been in the news for more than a year. Thousands of people around the world have written to their politicians and diplomats about Abu Rahmah. Former President Carter, Desmond Tutu, and a number of European diplomats have all spoken out about his case. It is inconceivable that people in the State Department are as clueless as they pretend to be.
Matthew Lee of the AP wire service has been trying unsuccessfully for weeks to get a straight answer from State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley about Abu Rahmah’s political imprisonment. The following clip shows the lengths that the State Department has gone to in deep-sixing any real concern for political prisoners and in deferring to Israel about human rights abuses.
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