Lebanese Ministry of Information
Teenager has long history of confronting Israeli occupation soldiers
Occupied Jerusalem: Israelis call her “Shirley Temper” but to Palestinians she is a national hero for fearlessly standing up to Israeli occupation soldiers who raid and terrorise her village.
Her real name is Ahed Tamimi. And a video of her confronting or provoking Israeli soldiers – depending on how you look at it – has gone viral.
Again.
Tamimi, 16, is a well-known Palestinian activist from a well-known activist family.
She lives in the village of Nabi Saleh, in the occupied West Bank, where weekly demonstrations have become common scenes of clashes between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli occupation troops.
The villagers accuse Israel of expropriating their lands in favour of the nearby Jewish colony of Halamish.
On Friday, the Israeli occupation army raided Nabi Saleh and were instantly resisted by over 200 villagers, including the Tamimis.
The soldiers shot a 14-year-old boy, Tamimi’s cousin, in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet, leaving him in a medically induced coma.
Tamimi and some women bravely approached the armed soldiers.
Tamimi, her wild blond curls swept up in a hair band, can be seen on film slapping and kicking a soldier, as another young woman captures the exchange on her smartphone.
Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, wrote on Facebook that soldiers raided his home, confiscating cellphones and computers and taking away his wife and daughter.
He said he has not spoken to the women since. A court hearing has been set for Wednesday.
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.”
“Lessons will be learned, and those activists who attacked will be tried,” said Bennett.
He said attacking a soldier is a crime that carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison.
It was not the first time that Ahed Tamimi was filmed in a violent physical confrontation with Israeli military forces.
In 2015, wearing a bright pink Tweetie Pie T-shirt, Tamimi was seen slapping and biting a soldier after he attempted to arrest her younger brother, whom Israelis accused of throwing stones at troops.
She was also the focus of media attention in 2012, when, wearing red pants, she stood screaming angrily at a soldier and stamping her foot.
Her regular spots in such videos have garnered her the nickname “Shirley Temper” from pro-Israel bloggers.
They, like the Israeli police, claim her actions are staged and a clear attempt to create a negative image of Israel.
The term “Pallywood” is used to describe Palestinians attempts to win the public relations war against Israel by manipulating the media.
In the Arab world, however, Tamimi has become something of a star. She is seen as bold for fearlessly standing up to the soldiers.
Following the incident three years ago, she was invited to a dinner with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and this past summer she went on a speaking tour in South Africa, the Jerusalem Post reported.
On Tuesday, her supporters called for her to be freed from Israeli detention, and a #FreeAhedTamimi hashtag was circulating on Twitter.
Gulf News
