Israel Arrests Ahed Tamimi’s Teen Cousin, Ramps up Bullying of Activist Family

January 11, 2018 Blog, News
Mohammed Tamimi (L) flashes victory sign as he was detained. Ahed (R) in court. (Photos: Twitter, ActiveStills.org)

During a dawn raid on the Nabi Saleh village near the Palestinian city of Ramallah Thursday, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian teen Mohammed Bilal Tamimi, a cousin of the iconic anti-occupation activist Ahed Tamimi who is facing up to 12 years in prison over charges of assaulting Israeli soldiers and throwing rocks.

In a video captured by family members at the time of the arrest and reposted by local media, the 19-year-old can be seen hugging his parents and siblings as his mother is heard saying: “Stay strong my son. May God protect you from them,” in reference to the Israeli soldiers arresting him.

In another video, the mother is seen arguing with an Israeli soldier who tells her to keep her distance while they arrest him and that he will be taken in for questioning.

“It is none of your business what the questioning is about,” the heavily armed Israeli soldier can be heard telling Mohammed’s mother Manal Tamimi, a well-known activist against the Israeli occupation and settlement activity near their town.

Photos from the scene showed the boy smiling as at least five soldiers escorted him out of his family home.

The Palestinian young man is also a relative of Ahed Tamimi, the iconic revolutionary teen who was arrested last month and charged with assaulting an Israeli soldier and throwing stones after video of her slapping an Israeli soldier in her home’s yard in the same village went viral.

It was revealed later that the Palestinian girl was upset after soldiers had shot her 14-year-old cousin in the face a day earlier.

The arrest of Mohammed comes a week after Musaab Firas Tamimi, 17, was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces in Deir Nitham, the other village where the activist Tamimi family also resides and is persecuted by the occupation.

Mussab became Israel’s first victim in the year 2018 amid major renewed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza ignited by the U.S.’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital.

Local Palestinian media also reported that at least three more members of the Tamimi family, most of them teenagers, were arrested by the Israeli army in early Thursday raids in Deir Nitham village.

The Israeli occupation has been actively persecuting the Tamimis for decades over their weekly protests against the theft of their lands in favor of the illegal Jewish settlement of Halamish near their villages.

(teleSUR, PC, Social Media)

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