Sidney Hollar received a phone call at 8:30 this morning from the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
They told her that her son, San Francisco-born Logan Hollarsmith, will be involuntarily deported from Israel within the next 24 hours, along with 17 other U.S. citizens detained in Israeli prison.
Hollar said that her contact at the embassy told her that no one knows exactly where the plane will land, but that it won’t be in the United States. They then read a message from her son, who was apparently unaware of the information that had just been passed along to her.
“I’m being held in a maximum security prison,” the contact read off his notes. “I can hear bombs outside my cell. I want to know when I’ll be released.”
Hollar, a San Francisco attorney, said she was told during the embassy phone call that Israeli forces will drive the 18 U.S. citizens who were captured, including Hollarsmith, to an airport in the south of Israel, and put them on a plane.
Once the plane leaves Israeli airspace, officials on board will go down the aisle and return passports to the detainees.
Hollarsmith, a 33-year-old San Francisco native and a captain in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid and supplies, has been detained by Israeli authorities since his boat was intercepted on Oct. 2 by Israeli naval forces.
The San Francisco Chronicle first wrote about Hollarsmith’s journey on Oct. 5.
His mother has criticized officials at the state and national level for having done little to ensure that members of the flotilla return to the United States safely. On the local level, Hollar said, she has only been contacted by one elected official, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder.
Hollar said Fielder’s aide, Feng Han, reached out to her on Sunday, Oct. 5, on behalf of the supervisor.
“I’m sure you are incredibly busy and inundated with emails and calls, but Supervisor Fielder would like to emphasize that if there’s anything we can do at all to use our office’s position to support Logan, please do not hesitate at all to reach out to our office,” Hollar read aloud from the email.
Fielder, for her part, said she has “nothing but admiration and respect” for Hollarsmith and the members of the flotilla.
Out of the elected officials that Hollar attempted to contact on her own, she said the only call that went through was her call to the office of Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, who represents Arizona, where Hollarsmith now lives. “They said they were working with the State Department,” Hollar said.
An Oct. 6 request for comment regarding Hollarsmith’s detention went unanswered by local officials, including Mayor Daniel Lurie and San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who represents Noe Valley, where Hollarsmith is from and where Hollar has long resided.
“It’s critically important that the IDF quickly release Logan, and we’re in touch with our federal representatives on Logan’s detention,” Sen. Scott Wiener responded in a statement.
Representatives of Sen. Adam Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla said that both were working with the State Department and the Israeli embassy.
And Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s press secretary pointed to a statement and letter co-signed with Rep. Ro Khanna and 14 members of Congress, calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “work for the immediate and safe release” of the detainees.
Hollarsmith’s abrupt return appears to contradict his earlier plan of action. He had chosen against self-deporting but to challenge his arrest and detention. He was supposed to have a hearing this week, in which he would’ve been represented by lawyers, according to Hollar.
Hollar spoke of her son, who is a member of the Old First Presbyterian Church and a Lick-Wilmerding High School graduate, as someone who “leads a life of service.” As one of the 500 members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Hollarsmith was selected out of 25,000 volunteers.
The Ohwayla, Hollarsmith’s boat, had a crew of 12 members, including eight U.S. military veterans, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest, a journalist with Al Jazeera, and Hollarsmith. The boat’s nickname was “the vets boat,” Hollar recalled, and they were “gifted the flag that made it to Gaza on the flotilla in 2008,” her son wrote her about the flag pictured above.
“He has an immense sense of humor,” Hollar said. “Goofy. Silly. That’s why it’s so fun to be around him.”
Hollarsmith didn’t grow up sailing, his mother said. But after earning his bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Bard College, Hollarsmith decided to sail from the Hudson Valley in New York to New Orleans, where he joined AmeriCorps.
“He bought a little boat and taught himself, practiced a little, and off he went,” Hollar said.
Five years ago, Hollar said Hollarsmith moved to Tucson, where he volunteered for No More Deaths, an organization offering humanitarian aid, such as food, water and medical care, to people crossing the Mexico-U.S. border.
When Hollarsmith joined the flotilla, Hollar said, she was able to follow the path of the boat and chat with him on Signal. Last Tuesday, when she lost contact with him, she had to wait until she found out from her son’s attorneys that he had been detained.
For now, Hollar can only anxiously wait for the next update.
“The end is coming,” she said. “He needs to come home so he can see his niece, who was born while he was away.”
Israel’s government is evil. They lie and kill civilians without consequences.
Yes, no, discuss. But it doesn’t matter because Fielder is not responsible for US foreign policy. She should stick to her job. Or her knitting.
Fielder has a conscience, you might not.
Her problem or yours?
Middle Eastern governments are evil. They lie and kill civilians without consequences.
We aren’t giving bombs to all middle eastern governments.
When every country surrounding you calls for your extinction for centuries, you have the right to kill to protect yourself. Palestinians wouldn’t be getting killed if Hamas didn’t rape and murder women and children and then hold hostages for years.
Palestinians are not Hamas. Conflating the two to attempt to justify the genocide and starvation of a civilian population is what makes you un-American, and not an ally either.
Rafael Mandelman repeatedly shows that his loyalties are with Israel, not the constituents in Noe. He went against his constituents by opposing the SFBOS ceasefire resolution and he made the effort to attend pro Israel rallies but can’t be bothered to inquire about one of his own district residents. If that is not the kind of Supervisor Noe wants, be ware that Israeli Manny Yekutiel, if elected when Mandelman terms out, will likely be even worse.
Still absolutely nauseated with Rafael Mandelman, Scott Wiener, and the rest of the SF electeds who stood with Israel over their own constituents throughout this disgusting holocaust.
Thank you to Rafael Mandelman, Scott Wiener, and the rest of the SF electeds who stood with Israel, along with the support of their own constituents, throughout these horrific terrorist attacks on innocent civilians.
Today is the 2nd anniversary of the cowardly, terroristic attacks by Hamas. On October 8, 2023, Israel rightfully had the support of nearly every country on our planet. Today, they are rightfully scorned by nearly every country on the planet.
The flotilla was in international waters when illegally commandeered by Israeli forces. Netanyahu is a war criminal and the massive dissent against him in Israel is growing each day. The Putin-Netanyahu-Trump troika must be stopped.
Fielder lives for pointlessly precious virtue signalling opportunities like this. Preferably ones that have nothing to do with the remit of her job.
Israeli shills live for making sad little comments like this about the few American elected officials who dare to say anything against their genocidal fascist heroes.
Terrorist shills live for making sad little comments like this about the few elected officials who dare to say anything against their genocidal Anti-Semitic heroes.
Israel is a terrorist state. Deal with reality.
The PM literally can’t fly over Europe or he will be arrested for war crimes. Keep kicking that sand.
Fielder is nowhere to be seen on the practical issues facing D9, which she has the direct power to influence, but always available for immediate and extensive comment on the global leftist politics she actually cares about but has no power to change.
You make things up about Fielder on the daily.
Her problem or yours?
As I understand it, all the flotilla protestors were offered a plane ride out of Israel on the day they were intercepted. A third of them left. Hollarsmith chose to stay and be imprisoned. Now he has decided to leave, so they are letting him go.
Would rather have Jackie Fielder fighting for Palestinians there than doing nothing here.
This kid is a misguided idiot and a liar. What bombs falling all over (in Israel)? That’s total BS. Also this “flotilla” is a pure publicity stunt. There was a mole on board that documented all these POS people admitting this. Google it. And there is almost zero “aid” that they brought. This is pure propaganda. And Greta is such a pathetic has been, she’s almost not worth mentioning. But go ahead and hype this up, you Israel and Jewish haters out there. You’re morally debased and sickening.
Whatever excuses you need to make for genocide, make them before your God.
He would’ve been able to hear the bombing in Gaza from Ktzi’ot prison. Google it.
Of course the aid on the flotillas is symbolic and the endeavor is for publicity. No snitch needed to report back the obvious.
Hamas caused this and kept the war going by not giving up the hostages. Hamas is at fault for the annihilation of the Palestinians. Hamas wanted this to get sympathy. They use civilians as they are cowards. Israel had to be on offensive otherwise Middle East would think they are weak. Israel deserves to exist. Anyone opposed to Israel existing is a racist.
Hamas did not kill 70,000 civilians, Israel did, intentionally.
That’s not US ally material. That’s war crime pariah state material.
Israel is as isolated as North Korea now, and equally criminal.