A day after a dramatic video surfaced apparently showing the abduction of a Palestinian teenager who was later killed, another video has been released that appears to show Israeli police beating a youth. His family says the youth is a 15-year-old American who is the slain teen’s second cousin.
The family says the Arab-American teen, Tariq Abu Khieder, is a high school student from Tampa, Fla., and is visiting relatives in Shuafat, a neighborhood in the West Bank. The video appears to show officers beating a teen identified by his family as Tariq.
The U.S. State Department confirmed that Tariq was Israeli custody and called for “a speedy, transparent and credible investigation” into the beating allegation.
An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced Tariq to nine days of house arrest. He had been accused by authorities of being among a group of masked Palestinians who attacked police officers. The Israeli Justice Ministry also announced Sunday that it would investigate allegations of police brutality in connection with the case.
Tariq’s family told ABC News that his arrest took place on Thursday, the day after his relative Mohammad Abu Khieder was killed. Israeli police dispute the account and say he was part “of a group of six masked youths who were armed with three knives, resisted arrest and attacked the officers.”
It is time for all of this to stop. The Israeli-Palestinean conflict has turned into a war on children, starting with the 3 Israeli teens who were kidnapped and murdered while hitch-hiking in the West Bank. After they were found last week, a supposed revenge kidnapping of a Palestinian youth, Mohammad Abu Khieder. Mohammad’s body was found. He had been burned alive.
Stop! This isn’t how we treat people’s children, whatever the political difficulties are–Not in a civilized society! We don’t kidnap and torture anyone, much less kids. 15 and 16 year-olds are kids. Period. Now we have Tariq, an American citizen, being allegedly beaten by Israeli border police.
Stop! This kid is an American citizen. He is a second generation American citizen who attends high school in Tampa, Florida. He will certainly have something for show and tell this September: How I got the crap beaten out of me by Israeli border police. I don’t think so!
State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki released this statement late Saturday:
We can confirm that Tariq Khdeir, an American citizen, is being held by Israeli authorities in Jerusalem. He was visited by an official from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem today.
We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force. We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force.
We reiterate our grave concern about the increasing violent incidents, and call on all sides to take steps to restore calm and prevent harm to innocents.
The militants and the radical extremists, both Israeli and Palestinian need to simply stop. Things are totally out of hand when war is declared on teenage boys. I am afraid I must hold both sides responsible. You don’t kill children!
6 Israelis militants have been arrested in the case of the Palestinean youth who was abducted and burned alive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/jerusalem-mayor-promises-justice-in-arab-teens-killing/2014/07/06/cc402520-39fa-417c-a1f7-49b84293bede_story.html?hpid=z1
Video footage also of the American who was allegedly beaten senseless by Israeli soldiers.
To date, no arrests have been made in the case of the kidnapped and murdered Israeli teens.
Washingtonpost.com:
Horrible stories even for this particular conflict. An American citizen assaulted by local authorities demands swift and certain accountability.
@Starryflights
An American citizen was assaulting police with a deadly weapon, along with other Palestinians. 6 people were attacking police with knives.
Don’t forget the entire story, Starry.
As for the Palestinian boy…horrible. I hope they catch whoever did it. The press is reporting conflicting stories.
@Cargosquid
It doesn’t matter what he did. He was brutalized by police. You don’t do that to anyone. You arrest them and give them their day in court. You don’t beat suspects senseless.
How would you feel if an Israeli boy had been treated that way by Hamas police?
What in the world kind of question is that .. ?
“How would you feel if an Israeli boy had been treated that way by Hamas police?”
And yet, there is a fundemental difference. If a Palistinian kills an Isreali police officer or is otherwise mugged by police or by an Isreali gang, he is imortalized, honored, billboards are raised and schools named. If an Isreali kills a Palistinian, there is an investigation, charges and the possibility of jail – if not done in self defense.
I think you have to ask yourself by whom?
You do understand there is no level playing field? I go back to my original premise: No one should be brutally beaten by police. No one. It shouldn’t matter if he is American, Palestinian, or Israeli. That should not have happened.
The fact that the boy was America speaks volumes. Would this be a front page issue if he were not American? Does that kind of behavior go on frequently? Those are the questions I have. Our government got involved immediately. His mother was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She was no Bedouin. Had she been, we might never know about this case.
Are there Israeli abuses? I don’t know. I am not there.
Blue, I believe both Palestinians and Israelis were surprised when Israel announced the capture of 6 who had tortured and burned the Palestinian boy, cousin of the American who was beaten.
@Moon-howler
I agree.
I was just making sure that the entire story was known. He wasn’t some innocent tourist. He was acting as a adult, making life and death decisions, in a defacto war zone.
Our gov’t got involved immediately….but didn’t make so much noise when the Palestinians kidnapped 3 children, including an American, and killed them.
I heard as much over all situations. I guess it depends on what you listen to.
I don’t think we know what really happened. I saw the kid being kicked in the face and brutalized. We didn’t see what he was doing. Maybe he was throwing rocks, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was just watching.
I don’t like these pronouncements made over what was going on when we weren’t there.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182542#.U7yScbFRf5d
Here’s a news account.
So much more reporting on this kid than the American teen killed by the Palestinians.
Funny that.
I seriously have to ask…do you every consider the source of the stuff you read and do you think about political bias?
I don’t care what that kid did. You don’t beat a suspect senseless unless he is carrying a hand grenade and that is the only way you can get him to drop it.
Also, a dead kid is discovered burned alive after he was abducted. Just how do you think the underclass in America would react? How about a college campus which isn’t so underclass? I think you might very well find the same reaction out of any un-empowered people regardless of location.
Now about those murdered teens on the West Bank. Deplorable. I expect all Israelis are outraged and rightfully so.
My question is, how long to do they keep going after each other’s kids? Good for Israel for arresting suspects in the burned teen case. I hope Hamas will be as vigilant. No, we can’t blame the entire Arab world for what people on the street say and do. Yes, some of the comments were deplorable.
Of course, some of the statements I heard Americans making in California were deplorable also, regarding immigrant child refugees. Simply deplorable and pretty much as heartless. Who am I to consider what some Arabs have said after listening to what my own countrymen (and women) are saying proudly in front of a camera, all puffed up like the rednecks they are.
@Moon-howler
Notice…I did not comment on the site. Notice, also, that I AGREED with you that you don’t beat anyone when arresting them.
I posted a site that I found after a google search…that was NOT merely a repeat of “oh no, innocent American child beaten by Israelis.”
Hamas just targeted ALL Israelis, saying that every Israeli is a valid target. In other words…business as usual.
Yes, Hamas, the fringe lunacy side of that organization, seems to want to keep it rolling regardless. I suppose I am defending the decent Palestinians who don’t want rockets lobbed at Israel.
Ok. I thought you were recommending the site. I have a hard time trying to be unbiased on this subject. I sometimes veer too far in the other direction.
@Moon-howler
The FRINGE side? Hamas is the government of Gaza and now the partner to Fatah. They are both currently firing rockets into Israel. They both have charters that DEMAND the end of Israel and death to Jews.
Hamas isn’t fringe.