Israel Interceding For Life of Anti-Israel Drug Convict
Jewish state pulls out all the stops to prevent execution of local Arab woman who hates Israel. Does she deserve such mercy?
“The State of Israel will do everything.”
This is a sentence that we hear often from senior Israeli officials regarding Israelis held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza. It means that the State of Israel will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to locate and rescue them.
However, now we find out that the State of Israel has also done and is doing everything to save an Israeli citizen who was apprehended in Dubai with large quantities of illegal drugs in her possession.
Sentenced to die
Fidaa Kiwan is a 43-year-old Arab Israeli woman from Haifa whose family is nominally Christian. At the beginning of the year, she was caught in possession of half a kilogram of cannabis, about 50 grams of cocaine and pills of various psychoactive substances. She was arrested and then in April after being convicted by a court in Abu Dhabi, was sentenced to death.
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Kiwan had an apartment in the City of Dubai (above) in which the cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic pills were seized
The authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consider drug offenses to be among the most severe infractions of their laws, and often impose a death penalty for them.
In recent months Kiwan has appealed her punishment several times, and several times her appeals were dismissed. Along with her own legal defense, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli politicians have spared no effort to overturn her death sentence. The Foreign Ministry has written multiple letters of appeal on her behalf. The Israeli consul in Abu Dhabi, Danny Gadot, is part of the effort; and the Israeli ambassador, Amir Haik, is assisting the family as much as possible. In addition, Israel’s Minister for Regional Cooperation (and Member of Knesset on behalf of the Meretz Party), Issawi Frej, went to extreme efforts to overturn the death sentence. And in the end he succeeded.
As stated, last Tuesday we were informed that the UAE Court of Appeals had overturned the sentence imposed on Kiwan.
Minister Frej’s tweet proclaims the good news.
Israel's Minister for Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej
“Rejoicing over the cancellation of the death penalty imposed in the
United Arab Emirates on the Israeli Fidaa Kiwan. I worked on this
together with my friend the ambassador @AmbAlKhaja who also joined the
mission to save Fidaa’s life. The UAE is our true friend and I thank the
court in Abu Dhabi for its decision.”
The irony
The State of Israel, its institutions and its senior officials have intervened in the United Arab Emirates to prevent an errant Israeli citizen from being punished with death. It should be noted that Kiwan is a resident of Haifa who identifies with the Palestinian issue, and more than that opposes the existence of the State of Israel. The irony is that the State of Israel DID NOT COUNT IT AGAINST HER, but tried to help her regardless, due to humanitarian considerations.
Some might call this weakness, while others call it strength.
From a quick look at Kiwan’s Facebook account before it was closed revealed terrible things she wrote against the State of Israel, the very country that is now fighting for her life.
Three shocking posts
On March 30, 2012, Kiwan wrote:
“Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is freedom. The only thing we lack is the revolution in our hearts… Doreen Po
\(#?!@#\) the occupation – Fidaa Kiwan” (Cursing Israel and saying it is an occupying state)
On May 27, 2015, she posted:
“Khader Adnan the living martyr” (identifying with a convicted terrorist from the Islamic Jihad who was on a hunger strike in an Israel jail)
The third post worth noting came on November 15, 2012:
“Praised be Allah, Israel closes Ben Gurion Airport” (During Operation Pillar of Cloud. Fidaa Kiwan identified with Hamas and was happy that Ben Gurion Airport was closed due to the security situation).
In summary
Despite everything, the State of Israel has done everything to save Kiwan from a death sentence. Israel may well soon ask the United Arab Emirates to lessen the punishment still further and allow her to serve the sentence in Israel.
Finally, we note that when this convicted woman owned a cafe in Haifa, she prevented an IDF soldier in uniform from entering, explaining that she defines herself as a Palestinian who fights the occupation and the symbols of the occupation.
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