US man who says IDF kidnapped his mother calls on Biden to take action

A New Orleans-area man who has reported that Israeli troops kidnapped his mother – a US citizen – from a family home in the occupied West Bank Palestinian territory is asking Joe Biden’s White House to follow through on the president’s recent promise to respond “if you harm an American”.

Ibrahim Hamed said he realized that Biden’s remarks on Friday – “if you harm an American, we will respond” – came after the United States and Britain attacked Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three US army troops. But he said the sentiment should apply equally even in the case of a Palestinian American who has been taken by Israeli troops.

Israel collects billions in US security assistance annually. Biden has also been seeking $14bn more in aid for Israel as it wages a military campaign in Gaza after the 7 October attack by Hamas.

“We’re paying our tax money to do what – to fund the people who are oppressing us?” Hamed said. “So when is this oppression going to stop?”

Hamed’s impassioned remarks to the Guardian came a day after he said members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) went to a home in the occupied Palestinian town of Silwad where his mother, Samaher Esmail, lives part-time.

In a prepared statement responding to a request for comment, the IDF said it had arrested Esmail “for incitement on social media”.

The statement did not elaborate, but a Facebook profile that matches Esmail’s name and likeness – with fewer than 110 followers – contained an image of her smiling next to text spelling out the date of Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel. At least two images displayed her posing with a rifle.

She was arrested alongside others in Silwad who were then taken in “for further questioning”, the IDF’s