Windsor man, accused of being Israeli spy, imprisoned in Lebanon for six days
Dan Brotman was detained at the Lebanese border, and spent six days in filthy cells, denied food, medical care and witnessed torture
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OTTAWA — What was supposed to be the end of a groundbreaking eight-day excursion for a Windsor man turned into nearly a week in Lebanese custody, facing accusations of being an Israeli spy.
Enduring feces-caked cells, witnessing torture and enduring endless interrogation, Dan Brotman was eventually released — but the seasoned world traveller said he’ll be more judicious about future travels.
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“I’ve been to all of the Arab countries, except four,” the 38-year-old told The Toronto Sun.
“I’d love to return to Lebanon once they’ve signed the Abraham Accords, and I’ll continue to travel to all regions of the world, I just won’t do countries that are enemies of Israel anymore — I’m too exposed and now I’m too scarred from this experience.”
The ordeal began in early May, when Brotman — part of the largest western tour group since the 2024 fall of the Assad regime — travelled to Syria for an eight-day excursion, exploring the country’s dwindling Jewish history.
“From Beirut, we drove an hour and a half to Syria,” he said, adding he’d travelled to Lebanon before without incident.
Problems began upon re-entering Lebanon from Syria.
“The guard takes my passport and scans it — he’s staring at his screen,” Brotman said.
“And then he says, ‘Come with me.'”
Brotman was told not to worry and he’d be on his way in five minutes.
“They asked me, ‘Have you been in the Israeli army?’ and at that point I can’t lie because if they’re asking me, they know — so I said ‘Yes.'”
Brotman, originally from Boston, moved to Israel, making Aliyah at age 18 and — like all Israeli citizens — was conscripted into the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) for mandatory military service, serving three years in an administrative role.
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He spent a decade in South Africa before moving to Windsor, where he’s in the final stages of obtaining Canadian citizenship.
Brotman’s past IDF service was enough for Lebanese officials to detain him as an Israeli spy.
Confiscating his watch, wallet and phone, Brotman was shackled and thrown in a dark, windowless cell.
“I was just waiting there, I didn’t know exactly what I was waiting for.”
His tour leader eventually visited, saying the guards planned to transport Brotman to Beirut.
The soldier accompanying the tour leader then started pointing at Brotman, shouting that he was an Israeli spy.
“They forced the group to leave the border and continue to Beirut, but before they did, they made each participant write down their mother’s full name because they wanted to know who might have a Jewish mother,” Brotman explained.
What followed was a six-day ordeal of filthy cells, little food, and endless interrogations about his life in Israel, and his military service. His captors also forced him to sign statements in Arabic.
Brotman, who holds American and South African passports, was detained by the Hezbollah-linked Lebanese General Security — equivalent to the CIA or CSIS — and housed in a cell with no toilet, lights, blanket or running water.
“We went through eight-hour interrogations daily,” he recalled.
In a diary he secretly kept in custody, he recalled a guard named Hussein who was kind to him, spoke of his uncle in Brampton and bought Brotman food.
Brotman also overheard guards torturing and performing mock executions on prisoners in adjacent cells.
Brotman comforted himself by singing Nyet Nyet Nikavo — a Jewish song affirming faith in God whose Russian title translates to “No, No, Not to Anyone,”
It took days to meet with American embassy officials, who convinced his captors to remove the handcuffs he’d worn constantly for days.
Six days into his ordeal, Brotman was brought before a judge who told him he’d be able to leave in three days — so he was surprised to find out later that night his departure would be immediate.
“I was blindfolded, put in handcuffs, driven through Hezbollah territory near the Beirut airport,” he said, dismayed to find his promised escort from the U.S. embassy never showed up.
“They said they were going to meet me when I was released, to make sure I actually got on the plane.”
His plane to the UK eventually departed, and he returned home.
Convinced his detention was illegal, he plans to file a complaint with the United Nations — but says the mental and psychological scars will take a long time to heal.
“I know the UN doesn’t do much, but it has to be on record,” he said.
“I’m part of a much longer chain of people in Jewish history who have been detained or imprisoned simply because of who they are. If Lebanon wanted to, they could have just refused me entry — there was absolutely no reason for Lebanon to break international law, to deny me due process and hold me for as long as they did.”
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