…by Jonas E. Alexis
If you have been living on a steady-diet of media manipulation and psychological warfare, then you probably don’t know who Tariq Abu Khdeir is. He is a fifteen-year old Palestinian-American who was brutally and savagely beaten by Israeli forces while in East Jerusalem in the summer of last year. Tariq Abu Khdeir is from Tampa, Florida, and the brutal act occurred on a holiday.
“According to Addameer, a Palestinian group supporting prisoners in Israeli jails, Tariq had been detained without charge and was denied medical treatment for five hours although his face was heavily injured, he had a black eye and his lip was swollen.
“The beating was captured on camera by witnesses and released online. Disturbing footage featuring one of the officers holding Tariq Khdeir down while the other punched and kicked him ended up widely spread by human rights groups.”[1]
In case you missed it, here is a short version of Israeli forces getting caught red-handed:
So, how did the media respond? Well, the Baltimore-Sun, among other Zionist propaganda, declared that Khdeir was “allegedly beaten by Israeli forces.”[2] The Guardian said almost the same thing, even though they had concrete proof that the teenager was being kicked left and right.[3] The Israeli forces screwed Khdeir’s face really bad, but that is not enough to make a common-sense conclusion. Are these people some kind of alien?
It got worse. The officer who was responsible for the beating will only get “45 days of community service…. The judge wrote in the verdict that the state prosecution has not presented a case with similar circumstances that resulted in the defendant “behind bars.”
Why just 45 days of community service and probably four months in jail? Well, Isabel Kershner, an Israeli defender who writes for the New York Times, tells us that the unnamed officer showed “expression of remorse”![4]
One member of the Israeli Knesset by the name of Ahmad Tibi lamented:
“There can be no doubt that if PA police had beaten bloody a Jewish child that Israel would have prosecuted them to the full extent of the law — if they weren’t killed on the spot. The fact that the officers who beat Tariq Abu Khdeir so brutally aren’t serving serious prison time highlights the two-tier nature of Israel’s justice system.
“This miscarriage of justice is precisely why Palestinians are taking to the streets in yet another wave of anger for freedom and equal human rights. We are fed up with what was recognized as apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow in the American South but is business as usual for Israel’s many trade partners.
“We have had enough deaths and injuries in the Abu Khdeir family, the Nawara family, and the Dawabsheh family. We insist on immediate change to protect the lives of Palestinian children. This flagrant racism must end.”
Yes, this must change. As you are enjoying your Thanksgiving dinner, remember teenagers like Khdeir, who are being brutally tortured and humiliated by Israeli forces virtually every single day of the year.
[1] Israeli Cop Who Beat Up American-Palestinian Teen Won’t Face Jail,” Sputnik News, November 19, 2015; see also Nir Hasson, “Israeli Officer Indicted for Beating Palestinian-American Teen in July,” Haaretz, September 11, 2014.
[2] Matthew Hay Brown, “Baltimore native allegedly beaten by Israeli police returns to U.S.,” Baltimore Sun, July 17, 2014.
[3] “Palestinian TV shows alleged beating of Mohamed Abu Khdeir’s cousin – video,” Guardian, July 5, 2014.
[4] Isabel Kershner, “Israeli Officer Sentenced to Community Service in Beating of Palestinian-American,” NY Times, November 19, 2015.
Jonas E. Alexis has degrees in mathematics and philosophy. He studied education at the graduate level. His main interests include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the new book Zionism vs. the West: How Talmudic Ideology is Undermining Western Culture. He teaches mathematics in South Korea.
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