British activist who was detained by settlers to be deported after UK intervenes

A British activist who was detained on Saturday by settlers and then handed over to police is to be deported from Israel.

The decision came after a UK government spokesperson told the Associated Press that embassy officials raised the case with Israeli authorities.

Finn Joughin was taken into custody by armed settlers on Saturday in the southern West Bank village of Umm al-Kheir, where he was trying to protect the locals amid repeated attacks from settlers who set up illegal outposts on the neighboring hillsides. The volunteer activity is known as protective presence and has become increasingly common throughout the West Bank amid a surge in settler violence.

The settlers who detained Joughin, later holding him in a structure before giving him to police, accused him of assaulting a minor. In footage of the incident, Joughin is seen holding on to a fence, next to an Arabic sign that reads “Welcome to Khirbet Umm al-Kheir,” and pressing his body against that of a child in an apparent attempt to prevent the child from passing through.

His lawyer, Inbar Shaked Vardi, said the video shows he was trying to protect the village. Fellow activists accused the settlers of kidnapping him.

He “stood next to the fence in an attempt to prevent its dismantling and damage to the property of the villagers, while the settlers got close to him and were trying to forcibly pass by him,” she told Haaretz.

She added that Joughin was filmed without his consent and was subjected to baseless accusations in Hebrew, which he does not speak. She said her client suffered “severe damage to his right to privacy and to his reputation.”

She said that, to the best of her knowledge, police did not question the men who detained Joughin at all when they came to take him.

According to Israel Police, Joughin was detained by the head of the security squad of “one of the settlements adjacent to Ma’on,” a recognized settlement south of Hebron, signaling that the settlers involved in the incident were residents of an illegal outpost in the area.

He was detained “on suspicion of performing an indecent act against a minor,” police said late Saturday in response to a query.

The interrogation of the British national “included, among others, the taking of testimonies that indicated a suspicion of a case of assaulting a minor,” police said. “The suspect was arrested at the end of his interrogation and the investigation of the case is ongoing.”

Joughin attended a hearing at the Population and Immigration Authority ahead of his deportation, according to Haaretz. Israel has deported dozens of activists who have traveled to the West Bank to help protect Palestinians from settler violence.

Settler violence has surged in recent months, with daily attacks and harassment. Prosecutions are rare, and critics accuse the IDF and Netanyahu’s government of condoning or even encouraging the violence.

The most senior IDF officer in the West Bank reportedly warned during a closed-door security assessment on Monday that mounting settler violence could ignite a broader escalation in the territory.