Activism

Two more Tamimi family members are said to be arrested, as Ahed, 16, appears in court

Today the arrest of Ahed Tamimi, 16, in occupied Nabi Saleh early Tuesday morning, after a video surfaced showing her slapping an Israeli soldier, is gaining global attention, including from the Washington Post. Ahed’s arrest by Israeli soldiers was followed by the arrest of her mother Nariman.

Today Ahed appeared in a military court, and there are reports on social media that two more members of the Tamimi family have been arrested. Notably, Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, is said to have been arrested during the court proceedings. And a cousin, Noor, who reportedly appeared in the slapping video, was arrested yesterday– amid claims by Israel supporters that the incident was an example of “Pallywood,” encounters allegedly staged by Palestinians to publicize the occupation.

Ahed Tamimi in court, from Mahmoud Milano Facebook page

There are several reports of Bassem’s arrest on Facebook:

Hours ago Bassem Tamimi was arrested while attending his daughter Ahed Tamimi’s arraignment in Israel’s colonial court. The court also extended Ahed’s detention for another 10 days. Now mother, daughter, and father are jailed.

Ahed Tamimi in court, from Mahmoud Milano Facebook page

Tali Shapiro also states that Bassem (the courageous protagonist of the Ben Ehrenreich book on resisting occupation, The Way to the Spring), was arrested.

Shapiro says that Ahed Tamimi’s detention was extended for ten days in Israel’s military court; while other reports are that mother Nariman Tamimi’s detention has also been extended.

Shapiro is someone we have worked with in Palestine; she is highly reliable; and she states that yet another member of the extended family was arrested:

So after kidnapping 17 year-old Ahed, & her mother Nariman, once again, in the wee hours of the morning, © descended on the tiny village, & abducted yet another member of the Tamimi family. Nour is 21 years old. Her father Naji, said:

“We are proud of our , Nour, who has been raised to resist the occupation and the injustice, an extension of her parents and grandparents, and take pride in her struggle against this terrorist state, and we warn these thugs not to touch or endanger her.”

There is this report on the same person:

According to this report, Noor Tamimi is also shown in the slapping video, confronting Israeli soldiers.

The Washington Post has a horrifying story up on the Ahed Tamimi case, by Ruth Eglash. It presents the two sides, Israeli soldiers and the Tamimi family, as somehow on an equal footing. It glosses the occupation of Nabi Saleh and the theft of the village’s lands and spring by the illegal settlement next door.

The villagers accuse Israel of expropriating their lands in favor of the nearby Jewish settlement of Halamish.

Accuse? The occupation and confiscation of lands are a settled fact; a flagrant violation of international law, in the eyes of the U.N. Security Council. The article valorizes the Pallywood narrative by quoting Israelis calling Ahed Tamimi “Shirley Temper”– as if Ahed Tamimi chose this life in a tiny occupied besieged village as a career move, at age 10. And Eglash says that meantime she is a hero to “Arabs.” But it’s not just “Arabs.” Palestinian solidarity activists find Ahed Tamimi inspiring.

Eglash notes that Israeli society is up in arms over the slapping video:

“This was a severe incident, when Palestinian women attacked an [Israel Defense Forces] officer and attempted to use social media as a platform to provoke the officers to respond,” said Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. He said police were continuing to investigate what had happened.

In an interview with Israel Army Radio on Tuesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party, said the young women “should finish their lives in prison.”

“The pictures are harsh,” Bennett said. “I trust that the incident will be investigated, the lessons will be learned, and those activists who attacked will be tried.”

The article also glosses the fact that a 14-year-old member of the Tamimi family, was severely injured when he was shot in the head by Israeli soldier last week. Unnamed! His name is Mohammed, according to Al Jazeera, which did a whole story on the injury. Imagine the U.S. press leaving an Israeli boy so severely injured unnamed. Access to their lands is an existential issue to the Tamimis of Nabi Saleh. A few years ago Mustafa Tamimi was killed by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration. That isn’t Pallywood.

Eglash reflects former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren, who said that the Tamimi children are dressed in “American clothes” to stage their confrontations, by doing a fashion report on Ahed:

In 2015, wearing a bright pink Tweetie Pie T-shirt…

She was also the focus of media attention in 2012, when, wearing red pants…

This is shocking.

The on-the-one-hand, on-the-other coverage of occupation is reminiscent of Daniel Estrin’s coverage of the Jerusalem announcement by Donald Trump two weeks ago on NPR. He repeatedly characterized the Jerusalem matter as a question of disputed claims, with Palestinians claiming the city is occupied. When that too is settled fact; Israel gained sovereignty by conquest, and it is not recognized by the world.

P.S. Yesterday we posted a story about the Ahed Tamimi arrest then took it down after a factual statement in the article — that Ahed’s brother was severely injured — was questioned. The injured boy, Mohammed Tamimi, is said to be her cousin. We apologize for our error on this fast-moving story.

Thanks to James North.

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Another whirl around the vortex guys?
Count me out.

> Jackdaw

Count me out

Is that a promise Jackoff?
Counting on you to keep your word.

Suggestion from FOSNA – Urgent Action for Tamimi Family

Call your nearest Israeli embassy –

http://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpedia/aliyah-process/applying-for-aliyah/israeli-embassies-and-consulates-in-north-america-and-the-uk/

and let them know you are aware of Ahed Tamimi’s arrest in Nabi Saleh, among other Palestinian child prisoners. Demand Ahed, her mother Nariman, and the other detained children be immediately released.

It’s time (way passed time, in fact) for the world to sanction this little upstart ignorant country and entirely cut it off from association with other countries. It should be shunned until Israel gives back to the Palestinians the land, farms animals, water, electricity, services and everything else it’s stolen. Palestinians should have full citizenship, voting rights, passports and freedom of movement anywhere in Israel and the rest of the world. The IDF is a well funded, well trained, well weaponized and US supported terrorist organization. I’ve seen them in action. The world should sanction and shun the USA, too, as that country supports the openly racist Israel. I know Israelis who hate what their country does to the Arabs, but those folks, just like in America, have no power to stop the criminals. Actually, they could if they had the will power to speak and act out in the open. Israel and the US are not democracies and they know it.

Let the international media cover this insane arrest. Let’s see how the U.N. general assembly votes tomorrow under US threat.

“The pictures are harsh,” Bennett said. “I trust that the incident will be investigated, the lessons will be learned, and those activists who attacked will be tried.”

The pictures showed, IMHO, 2 idiots in military garb who clearly didn’t know whether to shit or get off the pot, so decided to shit themselves. the israeli public is furious as they looked weak and impotent (because of course they were supposed to shoot these women, right?). The Tamimi women have incredible street cred. They’ve killed exactly 0 soldiers, but have scored to the 7th heaven on the deflating the zionist hard-on scale. Go team! And the israeli response? Where oh where is a soldier with balls of steel when you need one? Awaiting a pardon, of course. Bennett is trying to spin it as a case of brave ‘soldiers’ restraining themselves from the taunts, kicks and slaps of teenagers instead of soldiers who maybe, just maybe because of current events, felt that less is more. Occupation is a real mofo and Bennett will be sure and school these soldiers on just how easy it is to kill Arabs. And it’s no problem.