(VIDEOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
IDF and Border Police forces arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian girl early Tuesday morning after a video of her slapping and kicking an IDF officer went viral. The girl, Ahed Tamimi of Nabi Salah, a Palestinian village in the Ramallah area, is a member of a family is known for instigating clashes with the IDF. In August 2015, a video went viral showing several female Tamimi family members, including Ahed, holding down an IDF soldier, leaving him unable to move.
200 PA (Palestinian Authority) residents participated in a violent riot last Friday in Nabi Salah, many of whom threw stones at IDF forces. During the disturbance, a number of Arabs entered the nearby house of the Tamimi family and continued to throw stones at the soldiers, with the consent of the family. The forces removed all the rioters from the house and remained standing at the entrance to prevent further entry.
Two soldiers were standing the Tamimi’s driveway, when Ahed, along with another girl, went outside to drive the soldiers away, all the while trying to slap and kick them in an attempt to coax a violent reaction and capture it on film.
“The ranking officer on the scene acted in a professional manner in that he did not react violently”, the IDF investigation into the incident concluded. “However, it may have been possible to arrest the women on the spot, as they were acting with physical violence as well as disrupting the soldiers’ work,” the report added.
Responding to the incident, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that “the IDF is the most humane military in the world, with values that don’t exist anywhere else. (But) we cannot allow our humanity to come at the expense of our deterrence and our strength – whoever acts out during the day, will be arrested at night.”
MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) called the incident “infuriating” and said his”heart goes out to the two soldiers who found themselves in this difficult situation.” Shelah also praised the soldiers for exercising restraint.
“Let me ask you a question though,” Shelah added, “How did you think it looks? The daily routine of those brave and moral soldiers, who joined the army to protect us all, and who find themselves in front of a kicking girl with a camera… This is how it looks, these are the dilemmas that they deal with, there can be no winners in this kind of situation. For this, and many other good reasons, we must separate from the Palestinians.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Now if that was a charedie, we all know what the soldiers reaction would of been. Double standard anyone?
The amount of restraint those soldiers have is insane. Those girls need to be locked up asap.
And Elor Azarya reacted inappropriately? We maamish tie the soldiers hands with restraint- for what purpose! Arrest these wortless putrid punks and throw the key away! Put them in solitary confinement and feed them pig for every meal and snack.
My son got into a confrontation with this same, well known, provocatrix when he was in the army. Crouching behind a vehicle for cover he was approached by “Shirley Temper” (as some call her) and she started remonstrating with him to, “Leave my country”. He responded, “No, it’s my country” and the conversation continued at that “elevated” intellectual level for a few exchanges. Then my son raised one open hand to his nose, followed by the other, wiggled his fingers and said to the “Palestinian spokesperson”, “Na-na-na-kushkeleh!”. For that, she had no reply!
My son grew up with five annoying little sisters, this Jew hatter didn’t stand a chance!
These soldiers acted with such restraint and deserve credit. Unfortunately, the fact that the soldiers have to act this way is a disgrace to the IDF and the country. It seems likely to be an outcome of the court’s scapegoating of Elor Azarya. Now soldiers feel like they can do nothing and must put their safety and dignity on the line more than necessary. Israel should learn from Trump’s unleashing of the US forces fighting ISIS which is leading to a decisive victory. Unfortunately Israeli politicians are acting as if Obama is still the Emperor.