Israel

Israel is invoked in Guantánamo Diary as a political reference rather than a narrated location. During an interrogation in Jordan, Mohamedou Ould Slahi frames his understanding of terrorism through Israeli actions toward Palestinians and U.S. support for the Israeli government; the passage then turns that political account back on the interrogators facing him, whom he understands to be Palestinians working for Americans. The reference matters less as a description of Israel than as part of Slahi’s attempt to make sense of an interrogation shaped by competing claims of alliance and enmity.

Appearance in the Jordan Interrogation

The reference occurs when Slahi is brought into a small Jordanian interrogation room and considers the two interrogators before him. His account moves from the immediate scene to a broader political explanation: he attributes the problem of terrorism to aggression against Palestinian civilians and American backing for Israel. The book presents this as Slahi’s reasoning at that moment, not as an independent historical conclusion.

Displacement and Political Context

Slahi’s account connects the establishment of Israel, which he describes as occurring under British artillery fire, to the migration of local Palestinians into neighboring countries. He says Jordan received the largest share and that more than half of Jordanians were of Palestinian origin. These claims supply the context for his reaction to the interrogators: in his view, their Palestinian identity sat uneasily with their work for Americans against people they were supposedly helping.

Narrative Significance and Limits

The scene makes Israel part of a contradiction Slahi perceives in the room: he sees himself caught between parties he regards as historical enemies who have become allied against him. He calls the situation absurd and funny at once, an assessment that joins political analysis to the immediate pressure of questioning. Beyond this episode, the supplied passages do not describe Israel’s geography, institutions, or events there; its significance in this entry is confined to Slahi’s stated interpretation of the interrogation and its political background.