An American man from Ohio is currently trapped in his home, surrounded by extremist Israeli settlers – while Israeli soldiers simply watch it all happen.
In early August, Loui Ridi was at home in Ohio, watching security camera footage of Israeli settlers beginning to encircle his home thousands of miles away, in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank. At a moment’s notice, he scrambled to travel to the home and protect his brother and nephew, who were trapped inside.
It took levers upon levers of coordination with the Israeli government to even get access to his own home. Upon finally entering, he planted the American flag on his rooftop, hoping it would fend off any further Israeli incursion.
Instead, he tells Prem he has been trapped inside for nearly three weeks – with no end in sight – as the settlers remain nearby, and U.S.-funded Israeli soldiers do nothing about it.
“I want the American people to see that an American citizen [is] under siege by Israeli extremists,” he tells Prem. “And yes, I did raise the American flag…the settlers, when they take over a house, they raise their own flag, the yellow flag. And God forbid, if they ever [are] able to do it, they need to take the American flag down before they raise their flag.”
While U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the Israeli settlers besieging Ridi’s and others’ homes in the West Bank, the U.S. has seemingly otherwise done nothing to stop them, Ridi explains.
All the while, the Israeli military has declared the area a closed military zone. Ridi and his neighbors cannot leave their homes or walk outside on their own property – but Israeli settlers are allowed to roam freely.
“We are under siege, and there’s another siege inside the siege,” Ridi says, explaining that he and his neighbors cannot even visit each other.
Watch the video above to hear Ridi straight from the West Bank, as he fends off settlers seeking to take his land, while the U.S. and Israeli governments do nothing about it.
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