Israel Threatens Teenage Girl Who Slapped a Soldier. Who Is Ahed Tamimi?

As outcry grows against Israel’s arrest of 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian girl and activist from the village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, Newsweek seeks comment on the case from Yousef Munayyer, USCPR Executive Director:

The young activist is Ahed Tamimi, a 16-year-old Palestinian who has become a visible symbol of the Palestinian resistance against Israel. A video of her confronting an Israeli soldier during a protest went viral over the weekend, and eventually led to her arrest on Tuesday.

Tamimi is from a well-known activist family that lives in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, and many Palestinians view her as a hero.

“The Tamimis have been at the forefront of resistance to Israel’s military occupation. Their village land in Nabi Saleh is being taken for an illegal Israeli settlement, and Israeli soldiers are the agents securing this theft process,” Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the U.S. Campaign For Palestinian Rights, told Newsweek.

“Israeli military repression of protests by the villagers has left many members of the family wounded, killed or imprisoned over the years. Despite all of this criminality, Ahed, a young lady, is being labeled a provocateur by many in Israel for having the audacity to slap a heavily armed Israeli soldier.”

Read the article here.