scandium
07-27-06, 10:52 PM
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/27/accused-son.html
A former University of Toronto professor with Canadian citizenship who has been jailed for weeks in Israel, accused of spying for Hezbollah, went there to visit a sick relative and is innocent, his son says.
The Israelis have lost their mind. Though perhaps unlike the thousands they routinely detain without charge or trial, at least there may be some hope that with his Canadian citizenship enough pressure can be put on them to either charge him or release him - though I won't hold my breath on this.
Ghazi Falah, who has both Canadian and Israeli citizenship, is a geography professor at the University of Akron in Ohio and formerly taught at the University of Toronto. He was arrested after taking pictures in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, about five days before violence erupted July 12 between the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants and the Israeli military.
Falah said Israeli officials accused his father of taking photos of Israeli military installations for Hezbollah, adding that there was "supposedly a military antenna" in one of the shots. He has not been charged.
..
Falah said his father made a last-minute decision to go to Israel in order to visit Naail Falah's grandmother, who was scheduled for an operation to remove a brain tumour.
His father had gone to a tourist area to take a break from the serious visit and that's where he took the photographs, on a borrowed digital camera, Falah said.
"That raised suspicions," he said.
Falah said it is possible that the pictures were meant to be used in academic studies. His father was doing research for a paper he is writing about the changing Israel-Lebanon border. Falah said his father has taken pictures of the same area from the Lebanese side.
"If a person was going to do their own surveillance or intelligence work, they wouldn't bring someone else's camera and they wouldn't go there at the last minute to visit a grandmother before she goes in for a brain tumour operation."
He said his father is a renowned geographer of the Middle East, who often takes pictures of landmarks for his work. Falah has said that his father considers himself pro-Palestinian and has written articles critical of Israeli policies in the past.
A former University of Toronto professor with Canadian citizenship who has been jailed for weeks in Israel, accused of spying for Hezbollah, went there to visit a sick relative and is innocent, his son says.
The Israelis have lost their mind. Though perhaps unlike the thousands they routinely detain without charge or trial, at least there may be some hope that with his Canadian citizenship enough pressure can be put on them to either charge him or release him - though I won't hold my breath on this.
Ghazi Falah, who has both Canadian and Israeli citizenship, is a geography professor at the University of Akron in Ohio and formerly taught at the University of Toronto. He was arrested after taking pictures in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, about five days before violence erupted July 12 between the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants and the Israeli military.
Falah said Israeli officials accused his father of taking photos of Israeli military installations for Hezbollah, adding that there was "supposedly a military antenna" in one of the shots. He has not been charged.
..
Falah said his father made a last-minute decision to go to Israel in order to visit Naail Falah's grandmother, who was scheduled for an operation to remove a brain tumour.
His father had gone to a tourist area to take a break from the serious visit and that's where he took the photographs, on a borrowed digital camera, Falah said.
"That raised suspicions," he said.
Falah said it is possible that the pictures were meant to be used in academic studies. His father was doing research for a paper he is writing about the changing Israel-Lebanon border. Falah said his father has taken pictures of the same area from the Lebanese side.
"If a person was going to do their own surveillance or intelligence work, they wouldn't bring someone else's camera and they wouldn't go there at the last minute to visit a grandmother before she goes in for a brain tumour operation."
He said his father is a renowned geographer of the Middle East, who often takes pictures of landmarks for his work. Falah has said that his father considers himself pro-Palestinian and has written articles critical of Israeli policies in the past.