Rights and Accountability 20 November 2015
Tariq Abukhdeir with his mother Suha in Jerusalem on 6 July 2014, after the Palestinian American teen’s release from an Israeli prison. Days earlier he had been savagely beaten by Israeli border police.
ReutersAn Israeli court this week sentenced an Israeli Border Police officer to 45 days of community service for the savage beating of Palestinian American teen Tariq Abukhdeir last year.
The paltry sentence is “a shameful slap on the wrist” that “sends the wrong message that Israel tolerates the violent, extrajudicial beating of children,” the Abukhdeir family said in a statement released through the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU).
The assault took place on 3 July, a day after Tariq’s cousin, 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khudair, was kidnapped from the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat and burned alive by Israelis who have yet to be convicted for the slaying more than a year later.
Tariq was on a summer visit to Palestine with his family. The gruesome beating was caught on film and went viral, along with photos of Tariq’s swollen and unrecognizable face, sparking outrage around the world, especially in the US.
The footage shows Israeli police punching, kicking and dragging the handcuffed and unconscious teenager. Tariq was then arrested without charge and thrown in jail for several days before being released on house arrest. The Israelis accused him of throwing rocks at police, which Tariq vehemently denied.
Cleared of any wrongdoing in January, Tariq said at the time, “I was happy to learn that Israel has closed my make-believe case.”
Despite video showing at least two Israelis methodically delivering blows to Tariq’s limp body, only one was prosecuted. But even that is a rare exception in Israel, where police and soldiers systematically beat, torture and kill Palestinian children with total impunity.
If not for Tariq’s American passport and the video footage, there is no telling how long he might have been imprisoned.
“Disappointed”
“We were disappointed to learn that the Israeli police officer who severely beat American teenager Tariq Abukhdeir in July of 2014 was spared prison time by an Israeli court,” US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said during Thursday’s daily press briefing.
In a rare rebuke to Israel, Kirby added, “Given the clear evidence captured on videotape of the excessive use of force, it is difficult to see how this sentence would promote full accountability for the actions of the police officer in this case.”
When pressed on whether the light sentence represented a pattern of impunity, Kirby responded, “I don’t think we’re at a stage now to make a leap here in terms of trend analysis.”
But as Brad Parker, an attorney for Defense for Children International-Palestine, noted in comments released through IMEU, “This conviction must be understood within an Israeli judicial system where impunity reigns. Israel claims to open investigations into incidents involving injury and violence against Palestinian children, but indictments are incredibly rare and impunity is the norm for Israeli forces.”
Parker called it “troubling” that Tariq “possibly spent more time in detention than the unnamed officer convicted of brutally assaulting him.”
Obama’s inaction
As for the US government, Kirby insisted that “the safety, security and protection of American citizens overseas is of paramount importance for this administration.”
But it remains unclear what, exactly, the Obama administration has done to demonstrate its concern for Tariq and other Palestinian Americans victimized by Israel.
The Obama administration did host Tariq and his mother, Suha Abukhdeir, at the White House earlier this year.
Weeks after their visit to Washington, Tariq and Suha told me that they met with several US senators as well as Maher Bitar, Obama’s director for Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
They said they discussed putting pressure on Israel to secure justice for Tariq and to end the systemic brutality against Palestinian detainees, particularly children. According to Suha, the administration was very receptive.
But there have been no concrete actions to back up this rhetoric. Instead, the Obama administration continues to shower Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover while feigning powerlessness in the face of Israeli intransigence.
It is precisely because of Obama’s refusal to stand up for his own citizens that a heavily armed Israeli officer can pummel an American child nearly to death on camera and walk away with just six weeks of community service.
Tags
- Muhammad Abu Khudair
- John Kirby
- Israeli police
- violence by Israeli police
- children
- Brad Parker
- Defense for Children International-Palestine
- Barack Obama
- violence against children
- Impunity
- Tariq Abukhdeir
Comments
US rebukes Israel
Permalink Guy replied on
This is only the right thing to do ,to show that the actions that were committed against this young man were vicious and inexcusable .The only problem being ,that the US has nothing to brag about when it comes to violence against the innocent.Just look at the people being killed on the streets of US cities for the crime of being black or even just talking back to the police . Maybe a good dose of introspection is in order if this can be done on the part of the exceptional people.
going through the motions
Permalink tom hall replied on
Many Americans living abroad have been tortured and even killed by governments installed or supported by the US. Occasionally a statement of mild protest emanates from Washington, after which the matter is forgotten. American citizens who fall afoul of client states are not defended by their government, and the thinking seems to be that they must have represented a subversive threat or they wouldn't have been detained and abused by the local forces of (pro-US) "national security".
of course
Permalink Amjad Barakat replied on
If he was white and christian or none Muslim things would have been very different about the response even in the states. It's OK to be a victim if your not white and specially if Muslim and we wonder why Muslim extremism is on the rise and groups like Daesh can recruit so easily.
on video
Permalink jw replied on
apparently if it doesn't happen on video, it didn't happen. only in the most blatent, clearly visible videos of rights violations will the US rebuke Israel