ICE Deports 8 Palestinians to West Bank on Private Jet

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency deported eight Palestinian men from a detention center in Phoenix, Arizona, to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on January 21, using a private jet owned by Florida real estate developer Gil Dezer. The men, who had been living in the United States, were flown aboard a Gulfstream IV aircraft chartered through a Florida-based company that contracts with federal agencies, landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv after refueling stops in New Jersey, Ireland, and Bulgaria.

The deportees, residents of West Bank towns including Bethlehem, Hebron, and others, were shackled at their wrists and ankles for the duration of the flight. Upon arrival in Israel, they were transferred to Israeli authorities, including personnel from the Shin Bet security service, and transported in a vehicle with an armed police officer to a military checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Nilin. There, they were released without further assistance, arriving in prison-issued tracksuits and carrying their belongings in plastic bags. A local university professor, Mohammed Kanaan, who lives nearby, spotted the group around 11 a.m. and...