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The family of Sama Safi, a Palestinian American student who is being detained in an Israeli prison, has urged the U.S. to do more to secure her release.
Grassroots pressure “has been effective in forcing the U.S. embassy to visit Sama,” Sama’s aunt, Leila Farsakh, told Truthout. The embassy has now visited her twice since her imprisonment in June, and has reported on the poor conditions of her detention. “But we need intervention from the U.S. government to release and protect Sama and all American citizens.”
Sama, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and psychology student in the occupied West Bank, was detained by Israel along with three other female students of Birzeit University in June, and has been imprisoned without formal charges. The other students detained with Sama are Jolan Abu Awad, Laila Nail Khalil, and Natalie Abu Dayyeh, who is a player on the Palestinian women’s soccer team.
“She was wrongly detained,” said Farsakh, who lives in Boston. “They’ve accused her of belonging to a student group, which she denies.”
Sama is being held in Israel’s Damon Prison, under harsh conditions, and has reported facing verbal abuse at the hands of Israeli soldiers, medical neglect, overcrowding, and the spread of a skin disease among the women being detained.
Women being detained at Damon prison have spoken of punitive measures and medical neglect, including being dragged and humiliated when taken outside for “yard time” each day.
On August 19, Israel’s far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the prison and boasted of worsening the conditions of confinement for male and female Palestinian detainees, while making threats against them.
Sama’s case is particularly acute as she suffers from a chronic health condition which comes with “risk of organ failure” if not properly treated, Farsakh, Sama’s aunt, explained. “She has to have an injection once every month, and she has to take her medication, but they’re not being regular in giving her medication.”
In this regard, Sama’s case is reminiscent of the case of Terry Boulata, who was a student leader at Birzeit University during the 1980s and was imprisoned during the First Intifada. During her imprisonment, she suffered from a rare, severe health condition, and was only released after international pressure and global leaders stepped in.
Grassroots pressure has had an impact on Sama’s case, Farsakh said – and more must be built on that momentum. Farsakh spoke of the efforts of the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in agitating for Sama’s release. Over 100 human rights organizations, civil rights groups, and youth organizations have also signed calling for Sama’s release.
“It’s been very important to see grassroots mobilization in the U.S. for the sake of freedom of Palestinian prisoners,” Farsakh said.
These grassroots efforts brought Sama’s case to the attention of U.S. senators and members of Congress.
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Shortly after her arrest, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) spoke about Sama’s detention. In a video message, Van Hollen described her unlawful arrest, saying, “Israeli security forces came to her home at 3 am in the morning, and just took her without explanation. She told them she was an American citizen. They didn’t care.”
Van Hollen pointed out that U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “always tell us that their number one priority” is “to protect American citizens,” and that they must secure Sama’s immediate release to live up to these claims.
In August, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) posted on X that Sama “has been subjected to unspeakable cruelty in Israeli prison after being kidnapped from her home,” and that “her doctors warn that she now risks irreversible organ damage” due to Israel’s medical neglect of her chronic health condition.
Tlaib then took the lead in putting forward a letter, signed by 41 senators and representatives, calling for Rubio to pressure Israel for Sama’s release.
“Every day that Sama remains unlawfully detained in these inhumane conditions, she is at greater risk of irreversible and life-threatening repercussions,” the letter explains. “It is your responsibility to ensure the safety of all Americans abroad, with no exceptions. Her life is at risk on your watch.”
U.S. citizens have not been immune from Israeli violence. In 2024, Israeli forces shot and killed American protester Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank. In 2022, Israeli forces killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as she was reporting in the West Bank. And in 2024, U.S.-Canadian Jacob Flickinger was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. It is unclear how many Palestinian Americans have been killed in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Israel has also detained other Palestinian Americans in its prisons. In 2025, Israel detained Mohammed Ibrahim, a teenager from Florida, in the West Bank. Detained at 15 years old, Mohammed turned 16 while in detention, and was finally released after a campaign brought about pressure from U.S. lawmakers.
Farsakh insisted that grassroots pressure must continue, not only for the sake of Sama, but for all Palestinian prisoners. Grassroots pressure can “use the case of Sama to talk about all Palestinian women prisoners, and how this is unlawful under international law, and against American laws,” she added.
Sama’s case should also serve to highlight the worsening conditions in the occupied West Bank, Farsakh said: the increasing annexation, ethnic cleansing, and fragmentation that are part of Israel’s intensifying settler-colonial project.
“This is an attack on freedom of education, freedom of expression, freedom of association,” Farsakh said. “[Israel] doesn’t want people to organize, to talk, to socialize; they want them separated, and to leave the country.”
“I think it’s really a concerted effort to crush the new generation of Palestinian leaders.”
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