Palestinian father appeals to President Jimmy Carter for his innocent son
By: Daoud Kuttab
Tags: Carter, Humanitarian, Palestine, Innocent, Gaza

I received a copy of a moving letter sent by Khalil El Halabi that was sent to the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who is well known for his defence of human rights around the world. Mr. Halabi’s som Mohammad an engineer who was running the World Vision humanitarian program in Gaza was picked up by the Israelis and has been wrongly accused of having diverted millions of humanitarian dollars to Hamas to attack Israel. World Vision and the Australian government donors sent top auditors to check out the books and found that Mohammad El Halabi has done no wrong. Israeli officials are too embarrassed to drop the case or to release Mohammad Halabi on bail and so far 151 court sessions have taken place and no evidence of any worth has been made available. Read below the moving letter to President Carter:

Dear President Carter

We met briefly at Gaza’s Museum Hotel in 2009 while the Gaza Strip was under siege. Unemployment was rampant, crippling siege along with the absence of regular electricity and clean water. At the time we met I was working with UNRWA in charge of education and I was among the delegation that briefed you on the situation in Gaza. I spoke about the human rights curriculum that we had produced — the first of its kind in the Middle East. I told you that the goal of that curriculum was to prepare our citizens to be aware of their rights and responsibilities. Our curriculum focused on understanding the other, respecting the faith, freedom of expression, and the right to a just trial in which the accused presumed innocent until proven guilty.

During our visit, we also spoke about world leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and I told you at the time that our people denounce violence and injustice to all the peoples of the earth despite the injustice that we are experiencing. That is why I explained, we introduced the holocaust into our curriculum to teach our children about the injustice that was acted against Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

Dear President,

If we have a chance to meet again, I would tell you about the case of a human rights violation against a humanitarian worker, Mohammad Al Halabi, the director of the World Vision in Gaza. He was arrested on his return from a meeting in Jerusalem which was focused on providing support to poor families in Gaza irrespective of their political affiliation. They discussed the importance of providing psychological support to children and the need to help the fishermen and farmers.

Mohammad, my son, was accused of fabricated charges of diverting humanitarian funds to Hamas. These accusations have since been disproven by the organization he worked for and the Australian Foreign Ministry who conducted a thorough investigation.

I would have told you that my son was awarded the 2014 UN humanitarian hero award and that by locking him up unjustly they have destroyed all the humanitarian work he was championing all using fabricated charges and unsubstantiated claims.

For 52 days he was tortured as they tried to make him say things that he didn’t do. We had been teaching our kids about the injustice that befell them and now they are unjustly treating us.

My son lost 70% of his ability to hear from the brutal torture in total disregard for basic human rights.

His lawyer has been subject to unprecedented restrictions for the first time in Israeli judicial history. He was threatened inside the courtroom. For 151 sessions over a five-year period, the Israelis have failed to present any proof of wrong doing against Mohammad.

Mr. President,

Despite all of this, we will continue to believe in the universality of human rights and wish that Isreal would believe in and apply justice and basic human rights. Please help us keep this hope alive.

Khalil El Halabi

Gaza on October 5th, 2020