LONDON (Middle East Eye) – A UK judge has ruled that a 22-year-old seeking asylum from the Israeli-occupied territories in the UK, over fears he will be conscripted by the Zionist regime and forced to commit war crimes, would face “inhuman and degrading treatment” if he was returned to the occupied lands.
In a decision handed down in late February, Judge John McClure said the rabbinical student, who has been granted an anonymity order, would likely suffer a “serious deterioration in his mental health” and has been granted leave to remain in the UK, which is subject to renewal.
The student and his lawyers have welcomed the ruling, which overturned a Home Office decision in December 2020, but said on Friday that the decision failed to address key aspects of their argument, and they have applied to appeal for his asylum at a higher tribunal. Namely, they said, the court had overlooked their argument that the Zionist regime is an apartheid regime, a wider context that was critical to prompting the student to flee the occupied territories.
“I am saddened that it centered its decision around my mental health rather than the persecutory nature of Zionism,” the student said in a statement.
“My protesting against the regime, my refusal to be conscripted, and the persecution I was subjected to by the Israeli authorities did not occur in a vacuum and must be viewed through the racist and oppressive structures of the regime of Israel.”
It is rare for a Jewish to seek asylum in the UK as a conscientious objector or otherwise, and, for this reason alone, the case is an unusual one. But if it moves into the Upper Tribunal, the case could set a legally binding precedent with the potential to impact future asylum cases from the Israeli-occupied territories.
The 22-year-old rejects Zionism and the occupying regime’s existence based both on his political beliefs and his Jewish faith.
His lawyers say he was beaten and spat on by Zionist police officers and also sprayed with skunk water for taking part in anti-Zionist protests, and he fled the territories in 2017 after receiving a letter requiring him to report for military service.
Judge McClure’s decision followed a four-hour hearing in October in Manchester.