I Watched Israeli Police Beat My American Cousin. Most Palestinian Victims Don’t Even...
I Watched Israeli Police Beat My American Cousin. Most Palestinian Victims Don’T Even Get That Much Attention.
By Tamara Essayyad July 9 at 12:19 PM
Tamara Essayyad is a Palestinian-American attorney and policy commentator based in Washington, D.C.
[WARNING: This story links to graphically violent video.]
The scene opens with two masked men kneeling over what looks like a rice sack, one man holding it down, the other man repeatedly raising his right fist and pounding it. The fisted man stands up, giving us a clearer view, and begins stomping on the figure. Then it moves and we see a head and small body writhe in pain: The rice sack is a person. Long after the figure goes limp, the men continue the assault.
The unmoving rice sack was my cousin, 15-year-old Palestinian American Tarek Abu Khdeir from Tampa, Fla. The two masked men are Israeli police officers.
Videos and pictures of Tarek hit international mainstream and social media within hours — perhaps because he is tied to the brutal revenge kidnapping and murder of his cousin, 16-year-old Mohammad Abu Khieder, or perhaps because he is an American. Tarek’s family, who live in communities across the United States and in Jerusalem, was lucky: Calls from journalists (about what high school he goes to and what his hobbies are) helped get him released from an Israeli jail and sent to a hospital.
The problem is that Tarek is not alone. This week’s violent attacks on two teenage boys, and an entire Jerusalem village, are not outliers. This is how Israeli security forces work, both inside and outside the Palestinian Territory.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/09/i-watched-israeli-police-beat-my-american-cousin-most-palestinian-victims-dont-even-get-that-much-attention/
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