Anaheim Doctor Freed by Israel, on Way Home

An Anaheim doctor detained for two weeks by Israel on suspicion of terrorist activity was scheduled to arrive home today after being released, expelled and indefinitely barred from returning, family members said Sunday.

In brief phone calls from the Tel Aviv airport Sunday morning, Riad Abdelkarim divulged few details about his detention, but mentioned that he signed papers barring him from returning to Israel, where he had frequently traveled on volunteer medical relief missions, relatives said.

During his most recent trip, Abdelkarim was sent to Israel to assess Palestinian medical needs for the International Medical Corps, a Los Angeles-based global humanitarian organization. Israeli security officials detained him May 5.

“I don’t want him to go back,” said Abdelkarim’s wife, Wijdan, whose parents remain in the Palestinian territories. “We just want him here with his family. The last two weeks have just been miserable.”

As word of Abdelkarim’s release raced through the Muslim community Sunday, overjoyed family members and friends expressed elation, relief and gratitude for American freedoms.

“You take so many things for granted in America until something like this happens,” said Abdelkarim’s brother, Basil, a Bellflower doctor. “Then you think, ‘How lucky we are to be free in America.’”

An Israeli consular official in Los Angeles could not provide further details about Abdelkarim’s case.

The doctor’s detention had become a national cause celebre among American Muslims, who criticized Israeli authorities for never producing evidence or formal charges to back their claim that the doctor may have been involved in funneling funds to the Hamas militant group. A second aid worker arrested and detained with Abdelkarim, Dalell Mohmed of Dallas, was released last week.

Israeli officials have largely declined to comment on the cases, but police sources told Israeli newspapers last week that they suspected Abdelkarim may have been trying to use charitable funds to support Hamas “terror attacks” in Israel.

Abdelkarim and Mohmed had served on the board of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based Islamic relief organization outlawed by Israel in 1997 and the United States in December on charges that it provided funds for Hamas suicide bombings.

But Abdelkarim was cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI, which questioned him about his Holy Land activities in September. The foundation, which has denied charges of terrorist activity, is suing the U.S. government for freezing its funds.

Muslim activists have denounced the Israeli charges as a “smokescreen” to mask a broad crackdown by the Jewish state against international aid workers.

Several organizations, from the International Red Cross to United Nations agencies, have complained about Israeli detention, harassment and even shooting of aid workers who have attempted to bring food and medical supplies into the Palestinian territories.

On Tuesday, several American humanitarian aid workers who had been detained in Israel plan to hold a news conference in Washington, D.C., on their experiences.

“The accusations against Riad have been inconsistent and far-fetched,” said Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles. “The only thing that has been consistent has been the Israeli policy of preventing humanitarian aid in the region.”

In other developments, several of Abdelkarim’s supporters met with his congressional representative, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) on Sunday, and shared Muslim community concerns that U.S. officials had failed to aggressively seek the doctor’s release, Al-Marayati said.