Police drag, arrest and allegedly beat Bedouin child at anti-Prawer protest

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/police-drag-arrest-and-allegedly-beat-bedouin-child-at-anti-prawer-protest/82770/

Adalah attorney witnesses the child being beaten inside police car, says the 14-year-old minor is accused of holding – and not throwing – a stone.

Protests against the Prawer Plan, especially the central protest in the southern town of Hura, made it to top headlines on all Israel media sites last night, showing mostly the violent end of what began as peaceful protests. What wasn’t reported was the violent arrest of a minor, a 14-year-old Bedouin child, who can be seen in the photo below being dragged with a gun pointed at him, and in the video below (released by Ehna TV) being dragged on the street by his shirt and shoved into a police car. All this despite efforts by the protesters there, including MK Ahmad Tibi, to stop the arrest on the grounds that he is just a child.

MK Ahmad Tibi told +972 the police were violent at the protest in Hura and that their brutality was captured in the images now circulating around the world. ”The whole world is now seeing this picture. They will all see this, and that is good.”

He says he saw Mista’arvim (special Israeli undercover units disguised as Arabs) arresting the child and instinctively tried to grab and pull him free, but was prevented from doing so. The Arab-Israeli member of Knesset said he was pushed by several cops and ended up lightly injured on his arm, his watch broken. He can be seen in the video screaming at them, “he’s just a kid!”

Now I, understand that some may salivate over this arrest and beating (some sociopaths just love to see Palestinian kids abused/shot/murdered as if they have it coming to them), but I wonder how these same individuals rationalize terror against one set of children while condemning it against another group that they identify with.

I guess that it is just another day in apartheid Israel.

[oberliner]

1. Perfect 972mag article and perfect response

Really encapsulates so much with so little.

Look at how Mairav Zonszein responds to two different claims:

1. The claim that the kid was beaten in the car by Israeli police

Unchallenged and serves as the foundation of the headline of the piece.

2. The claim that the kid attacked an Israeli police officer

"Seems absurd considering the size of the policemen and gear they are strapped into, compared with this scrawny little kid..."

Weirdly, the idea that the Israeli police officer would beat this "scrawny little kid" after he was already in custody while in the police car with numerous witnesses and video cameras abounding does not, to Mairav, seem absurd.

Not only does that not seem absurd but it is worthy of being included in the 972mag attention-grabbing headline, even though there is no evidence of any such beating occurring.

Yet the idea that the kid attacked a police officer is rejected as "absurd" because the kid is scrawny and the policemen are big and have gear. Of course, scrawny kids have in fact being throwing rocks at big policemen with gear for decades, but I guess that's beside the point.

And Ahmad Tibi's watch got broken. Glad that critical detail was included.

Mairav Zonszein is probably the most incompetent of the regular contributors they have over there. She takes other tidbits from other sources (Youtube videos, Facebook posts), throws in a few editorial remarks and calls it her own piece.

If she was an actual reporter, she would attempt to speak with a variety of people at the scene to ascertain what they saw. Follow up with the man who claimed he saw the kid beaten in the car. What exactly did he see? Were there other witnesses? Did he alert anyone in the media? Anyone capture the beating on tape? There were many many cameras around in that Youtube video.

This article was written to generate exactly the response provided in the commentary added by the poster in the OP ("some may salivate over this arrest and beating", "sociopaths just love to see Palestinian kids abused/shot/murdered", " individuals rationalize terror against one set of children&quot .

The truth is: a young protestor was handled roughly by police and detained.

That's all that happened - and that ought to be enough to generate an informed and rational discussion/debate without the sensationalizing from Mairav and 972mag.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. .

Do you want some cheese with that whine?

[oberliner]

4. Appreciate the thoughtful response

Trying to present a reasoned and fair critique. More than willing to discuss any of the assertions made.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

5. You're welcome. Any time.

Last edited Sun Dec 1, 2013, 09:49 PM - Edit history (1)

[Jefferson23]

2. Protesters clash with police over Bedouin displacement plan

Hura, Israel (CNN) -- Israeli riot police broke up a demonstration comprising more than 1,000 people who were protesting an Israeli Parliament plan to displace tens of thousands of Bedouin from southern Israel's Negev.

Dozens of the protesters -- including a 12-year-old boy -- and a number of riot police were injured and dozens more were arrested.

The protesters -- composed of Bedouin, Palestinians, Israeli and international activists -- were demonstrating against the Prawer Plan, which they say would displace the Negev's original inhabitants.

According to Israeli sources, more than 40,000 Bedouins would be affected by this plan; Bedouin elders estimate the total at more than 70,000.

If passed by the Knesset, the plan's implementation would destroy 35 "unrecognized" Arab Bedouin villages and displace Bedouin citizens of Israel from their historical lands in the Naqab, the Arabic name for the Negev, according to a posting on the website for Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/30/world/meast/israel-bedouins-protests/

[oberliner]

6. I wonder if the 972mag article got the boy's age wrong

It appears to be 12, not 14.

Hopefully there will be more information forthcoming about his condition and arrest status.

[Jefferson23]

7. Too soon to tell, there may be a 12 yr old and a 14 yr old involved..we'll see, eventually. n/t

[oberliner]

8. The Ehna TV video linked to in the 972mag article lists his age as 12

Where 14 came from is not clear.

Not sure we will ever get any followup on him, but I hope we do.