A Palestinian Journalist Left Israeli Detention Near Death. US Law Bars Funding Torture.

Mujahid Bani Mufleh, a Palestinian journalist from the West Bank, was held in Israeli detention for months without charge. After his release in January 2026 he posted photographs of his condition. Two days later he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage and had part of his skull removed, Democracy Now reported. His case raises a question that lands in Washington: U.S. law forbids sending military aid to forces that torture, and the United States gives Israel about $3.8 billion a year.

What Happened to Mujahid Bani Mufleh

Bani Mufleh, from Beita near Nablus, was detained by Israeli forces in mid-2025 and held until January 2026 under administrative detention, a system that allows imprisonment without charge or trial. He was never tried.

He says he was starved and abused during his months in custody. The before-and-after photographs he shared show dramatic weight loss and a face his own community described as unrecognizable. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, which tracks detainees, said his case “is not an isolated case” but reflects “thousands” held under the same system. Israel has not commented on his specific medical condition.

Held Without Charge

Administrative detention lets an Israeli military commander jail a person for up to six months, renewable indefinitely, on the basis of classified evidence the detainee cannot see. Israel says the practice is a lawful security measure and denies systematic abuse of prisoners.

The scale is large. As of June 2026, Israel held roughly 3,300 Palestinians in administrative detention without trial, according to figures compiled by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Human rights organizations argue that detention this broad, with no charge and no public evidence, violates international law.

A Documented Pattern, Not One Case

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a U.S.-based press freedom organization, examined the wider pattern in a February 2026 report titled “We Returned From Hell.” The findings are specific and sourced.

52 pounds average weight loss reported by 59 released Palestinian journalists CPJ interviewed.

CPJ documented at least 94 Palestinian journalists detained since October 2023, with 30 still held in early 2026. Of the 59 released journalists it interviewed, all but one described torture, beatings, or other violence. More than 80% were never charged with any crime. Several described prolonged exposure to loud sound at the Sde Teiman facility, causing sleep deprivation.

These are the accounts of the released journalists themselves, gathered by an organization whose job is verifying what happens to the press.

What US Law Says

A U.S. law written for this situation already exists. The Leahy Law, Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act, bars the United States from giving military aid to any foreign security force unit that has committed a gross violation of human rights, a category that explicitly includes torture and extrajudicial killing.

Critics inside the government say it has not been applied evenly. Charles Blaha, who ran the State Department office responsible for the Leahy Law until 2022, has written that the United States has not enforced the law against Israel the way it does against other countries. With roughly $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid at stake, whether that aid complies with U.S. law is a question for Congress.

Congress Has Already Voted on This

This is a live issue on Capitol Hill. In April 2026, the Senate voted on joint resolutions to block specific arms sales to Israel, including a $150 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs and a $300 million sale of bulldozers. Both failed, 36-63 and 40-59.

The votes failed, but they were not fringe. Roughly three-quarters of Senate Democrats voted to block at least one of the sales. The mechanism for conditioning aid exists, and a growing bloc of senators is willing to use it.

What You Can Do Now

Use the letter below to ask your senators to enforce the Leahy Law. The specific ask is for the State Department to investigate and apply the law to any unit credibly implicated in torture or detainee deaths, and to condition arms sales until that review is done.
Call your senators and representative at (202) 224-3121. Tell them that U.S. law already bars aid to forces that torture, that a CPJ report documents the abuse of journalists held without charge, and that you want the law enforced.
Ask your members of Congress to demand that journalists held without charge be released or charged in an open court. Press freedom does not stop at the U.S. border, and the global decline affects American journalists too.