Israeli soldiers took away my friend's child in the night. That was only the start of his ordeal

This month, the Israeli military raided a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Beit Ummar in the middle of the night. They pulled a 13-year-old boy out of his bed and took him. His single mother Fatma, who lives with her six children in a two-room apartment, were terrorised. Fatma begged the solders to tell her why her son was being arrested and where they were taking him. They ignored her.

I have known Fatma and her children for close to 20 years. Although she lives in the West Bank, Fatma would frequently walk through my affluent West Jerusalem neighbourhood trying to sell her colourful, home-made, embroidered purses to put food on the table for her children. On school holidays, Fatma had no choice but to bring her children with her. I frequently bought the children a Coke and a cupcake and paid them to sit with me in a coffee shop so I could practice my Arabic.

Muhammad, then about seven years old, taught me the Surah Al Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran. As our relationship developed over the years, Muhammad told me that he and his siblings have never seen the sea, so I got permission from Fatma to take them to the beach. I have been to their home in Beit Ummar and they to mine numerous times.

An Israeli tries to prevent a woman from taking photos in the Old City of Jerusalem on 5 June 2024, as Israel marks the capture of the city in 1967. Policing for Israelis and Palestinians varies wildly. EPA

So, when Fatma called me after the raid, crying that she doesn’t know where Muhammad was, I, too, was very concerned. I contacted a few lawyer friends who work with Palestinians, as well as the incredibly helpful and very important HaMoked, an Israeli-based human rights NGO that helps Palestinians. Within a few days, they found out the boy was being held in Ofer Prison, charged with throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

Ofer is located in the West Bank, and looms large for Israelis who commute daily from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv as it abuts the motorway between them. It has a bad reputation, with reports of systematic humiliation and abuse of prisoners, beatings by guards and near-constant handcuffing. A delegation of British lawyers who visited the facilities said they saw iron shackles on Palestinian children being held there. Unexplained prisoner deaths at Ofer are not unheard of either.

Muhammad told his jailers in Ofer that he did not throw any stones. Before his official interrogation, he spoke on the phone with a lawyer, who gave him the same advice any defence attorney would: say nothing. But the boy says he was beaten by the guards right before the interrogation and was told if he does not confess, he will never see his mother again.

In Israel, this is not an idle threat. Israel possesses and uses a draconian legal tool called “administrative detention”, which can keep a person in prison for years with no trial. Given the beating, the thought of never seeing his mother again, the yelling, the cursing and the prolonged interrogation, Muhammad decided to confess to whatever they accused him of, just to stop the interrogation.

Did the military have to raid the house at 2AM, causing the other children in the bed to soil their clothing from fear?

His lawyer told me that while all interrogations carried out by Israeli forces are filmed, often the threats and beatings happen before the interrogation officially begins or when the prisoner steps out to use the bathroom. This alleged modus operandi is why the Israeli military has an impressive 99 per cent conviction rate when