I have known the Tamimi family for 13 years and have seen how Israel systematically targets non-violent activist and movements. Ahed and Bassem Tamami are currently being detained because they stand for Palestinian freedom.
“In Hebron, I saw what to me looked like two Americans coming towards us, but they were escorted by four or five Israeli soldiers with rifles. And I was hoping to have a conversation with them. But before I got too close– the rifle kind of came out, to push me away, when it was clearly evident that I’m a tourist. It was an unnecessary reaction. Because I wasn’t at all threatening. But these were American dignitaries, and I think it was part of the deal. To illustrate this is a dangerous place. ‘Okay, we’ll take you to Hebron, but you need to have a five-soldier escort.’ That’s the narrative that is played up. Our security is paramount no matter what happens.”
Richard Hardigan reports from Nabi Saleh, “Israel is the only country in the world that automatically prosecutes children in military courts that lack basic and fundamental fair trial guarantees. Since 2000, at least 8,000 Palestinian children have been arrested and prosecuted in an Israeli military detention system notorious for the systematic ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children.
Nabi Saleh is no exception in this regard. Since the demonstrations began, there have been 220 arrests, of which roughly 100 have been of minors and, perhaps even more disturbing, there have been 15 arrests of children under the age of 15. One of the latter is Mohammed Fadal Tamimi, aged 14, who is currently in prison.”
The viral video of Ahed Tamimi fighting an Israeli soldier who was brutalizing a boy in the occupied Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh has prompted a backlash from Israel’s propagandists: the incident was staged by villagers as a “Pallywood” production. The charge is a cruel smear of people who did not ask to have their lands confiscated by illegal colonists.