The children Obama will never mention or meet

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel issued a report in March called Police Violations of the Rights of Minors in East Jerusalem the findings include that over 1,200 Palestinian children in Jerusalem have been detained since 2010.  But if we are to believe Zionist propaganda then these children were/are being detained because their parents don’t love them enough.  When Israel wants to patrol a Palestinian neighborhood then parents should keep their children indoors and not even send them to school.  But, when Israel wants to tear down Palestinian homes to build an amusement park, well, then, Palestinian parents should push their children outdoors. 

A look into what Israel has done to Palestinian children in the last few weeks may look shocking but actually Kate and I have been documenting these crimes for years now and it’s nothing new.  Nonetheless, here’s a glimpse into some of the things that Palestinian kids have endured in the last two weeks alone:

May 20th
Two Palestinian children injured by dud bomb in South Hebron Hills

May 29th
Israel detains an 8-year-old Palestinian in East Jerusalem, his aunt shot in the leg with a rubber bullet when she attempted to aid her young nephew

Several Palestinians in Hebron detained, including women and children after the Israeli Occupation Forces claimed they were in a “closed military zone” which was actually agricultural land owned by Palestinians.

Medics: 19 year old Palestinian beaten by Israeli soldiers at checkpoint when he was on his way home from work

June 1st
Israeli forces storm Bir Ayyub and Alabasya districts and arrest five children while playing, aged 7, 8, 10 and 11–as of yet their parents have not been told where their children are being held.

Israeli forces raid Ein Aluza house and detain 16 year old, no explanation for arrest given to his father

Teenagers seized in Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan

Soldiers Invade Hebron and nearby areas, detain two brothers aged 13 and 17 and another teen aged 16

Israel also attempts to intimidate Palestinian activists by threatening to harm their children:

“Do you want to become the father of a martyr?” they asked one of the village leaders, hinting that the occupation forces might retaliate on his children.

What Israelis don’t understand is that Palestinian children are having their Warsaw moment and nothing Israelis do anymore makes them cower in fear.  Whether it’s this unforgettably defiant little boy from the war on Gaza which killed hundreds of children:

“At one point I saw a young boy on a donkey cart, unaware I was observing him. As an Israeli jet passed overhead, he shook a fist at the sky.”  —Ben Wedeman

Or the countless Palestinian youth that risk life and limb every day in Jerusalem and elsewhere to fight against systematic attempts to cleanse them from their land. I am not trying to romanticize the toughness of Palestinian youth, it’s upsetting to me that they don’t have the same opportunities that other children have.  But no matter how many bombs Israel drops on them they will never break the Palestinian spirit and a generation of Palestinians later are more determined than ever to rid themselves of Israeli apartheid, regardless of what Obama and Netanyahu want or say.