British Activist Deported From Israel After Protecting Palestinian Children in West Bank

Pro-Palestine activist Finn Joughin has been detained by Israeli forces and deported to Britain, following his activism in the occupied West Bank. The 22-year-old student worked in the village of Umm al-Khair as an international volunteer with Proactive Presence, a movement that aims to protect Palestinian communities from settler attacks.

Joughin was detained by Israeli settlers at gunpoint on August 29 after intervening to shield Palestinian children playing football in the village, located in Masafer Yatta. Umm al-Khair is an area in the southern West Bank under Israeli administrative and security control, designated as Area C under the Oslo Accords, where Palestinian communities have faced continuous attacks by Israeli settlers.

'I had just taken a seat on the side of the pitch when maybe five or six teenagers arrived and attempted to kind of take over the pitch from the Palestinian kids,' Joughin told Al Jazeera. As parents and settler families surrounded the pitch, local and foreign activists intervened. When Joughin tried to block settlers from tearing down a fence, he was kicked, shoved, and subsequently put in a chokehold by adult settlers before being taken to the illegal Carmel settler outpost at gunpoint.

'I was placed in what I’d call a concrete shed, which I was later told was a bomb shelter. They took my phone and wallet off me. They demanded to see my passport. They were kind of making accusations at me,' he stated. Settlers accused him of being an 'anarchist' and commented on his supposed 'friends in Iran'.

After being held captive by armed settlers for about 30 minutes, the Israeli army arrived, and Joughin was transferred to a police station in the settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron. Encountering hostility from soldiers upon explaining he had been kidnapped, he realized that legal resistance would be futile. The following day, he was taken in handcuffs to the magistrate’s court in occupied Jerusalem, where his lawyer and the public prosecutor agreed he would be deported to the UK instead of facing further legal proceedings.

At an immigration detention centre near Ben Gurion International Airport, investigators questioned his reasons for being in the West Bank and his positions on Israel, the war on Gaza, and Iran. Threatened with extended detention, Joughin signed deportation papers, waived his right to appeal, and was deported to Britain on August 31, receiving a 10-year ban from returning to Israel or the occupied Palestinian Territory.

'It’s scary and of course it was a surreal experience to go through, but it’s something I don’t regret at all doing,' Joughin told Al Jazeera. 'I’m working as quickly as possible on trying to clear my name, repeal my ban, and, if I can, return to Umm al-Khair.'

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, settlers and Israeli troops carried out 11,074 attacks in the West Bank during the first half of this year. When contacted, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson stated they provided consular support to the British man and remained in contact with his family and Israeli authorities, while Al Jazeera approached the Israeli military for comment.