Joseph Wondering Where The Hell Basel Ghattas Is With That Damn Phone

While conditions for Joseph in the prison are less brutal than for most prisoners, his situation remains far worse than the prisoners Ghattas has helped with his smuggling.

Memphis Prison Facility, Egypt, December 19 – A Hebrew servant incarcerated for suspected sexual advances toward his master’s wife expressed exasperation today that the Arab-Israeli lawmaker who was supposed to smuggle a mobile phone into the jail has yet to deliver the device.

Joseph, son of the patriarch Jacob, is still waiting for the smuggled cellular phone to arrive by means of a Member of Knesset with parliamentary immunity who is permitted access to prisoners of all classifications. The eldest son and erstwhile principal heir to his father – until dispossessed of his family by ten of his brothers last year – had arranged for MK Basel Ghattas of the Balad Party to supply him illicitly with a means of unmonitored communication with the outside world. Ghattas, however, has not visited Joseph since the arrangements were made, resulting in frustration for the charismatic twenty-four-year-old.

“I don’t understand what went wrong,” muttered the Hebrew slave. “He was supposed to come two days ago with a Nokia. It’s nothing particularly advanced or complicated. I just need a workhorse of a phone, some way to contact people. I’ve been cut off from my family for a long time, and haven’t had a chance to let them know I’m OK. Just as importantly, they haven’t been able to find me. I mean, that is if the ones who didn’t sell me in to slavery even want to hear from me. I’m in limbo here, and just don’t know.”

“I’d love to be able to determine whether my father even knows what happened to me,” he continued. “Did my brothers ever tell him? And what about Benjamin? If I could just call him, or even text him, I’d have some clarity, and know whether I should bother trying to get myself back home and into the family again. But I’m totally in the dark here. I was hoping Mr, Ghattas could smuggle a phone in for me, as he does for Palestinian prisoners in Israel being held for dangerous security offenses, but I’m still waiting for that to come to fruition.”

While conditions for Joseph in the prison are less brutal than for most prisoners, his situation remains far worse than the prisoners Ghattas has helped with his smuggling. The comparison irks Joseph, who sees injustice in the apparent neglect that Ghattas has shown him. “The guys he’s helping are dangerous criminals whose ideology he happens to support,” observed the young man. “Whereas I’ve actually done nothing wrong, neither back in Canaan nor here in Egypt. It’s almost as if the guy doesn’t actually care about real justice and fairness.”

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