“Should Have Gotten a Bullet” Israeli Lawmaker Said About Palestinian Teen Ahed Tamimi
(The AEGIS Alliance) – A senior Israeli politician says Ahed Tamimi “should have gotten a bullet” for an Israeli soldier being slapped by her.
אני דווקא ממש עצוב ינון שהיא במעצר. לדעתי היא היתה חייבת לחטוף איזה כדור, לפחות בפיקה של הברך. זה היה מכניס אותה למעצר בית לכל החיים. https://t.co/sdXBHQWMqf
— בצלאל סמוטריץ’ (@bezalelsm) April 22, 2018
“In my opinion, she should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneecap,” stated Bezalel Smotrich in a tweet, who is a member of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party. “That would have put her under house arrest for the rest of her life.”
The Tweet has since been removed by Twitter.
Smotrich acts as a deputy parliament speaker. He was responding to journalist and former Jewish Home MP Yinon Magal, who had tweeted earlier that, “I’m watching this video again and am so glad that Tamimi is still in jail.
“Sometimes, it’s good that the mills of justice grind slowly,” while watching video of the slap.
Tamimi has become quite popular and like a celebrity for people who criticize Israel, following videos taken of her confrontation with Israeli soldiers in her house in the occupied West Bank’s Nabi Saleh being posted onto Facebook.
The flare-up started by Israeli forces’ refusal to leave Tamimi’s house in December. This was the same day her 15-year-old cousin Mohammed Tamimi had been shot in the head with a rubber bullet that was coated with steel.
Tamimi was arrested following the confrontation and later given eight months in prison. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have been asking for her release.
Smotrich’s Tweet on Twitter attracted criticism from inside Israel and beyond. Michal Rozin, also an Israeli MP and longtime critic of Jewish Home, stated in a reply on Twitter that Smotrich was an “inciter” and “thug” and he should be ashamed of himself.
“Should the hilltop youth from Samaria who threw stones at IDF soldiers last week also have been shot? Oh, I forgot – the law is different for enemies,” he stated, referencing an illegal settler in West Bank.
“I don’t accept your excuses and explanations. You’re a thug and an inciter,” she mentioned.
תתבייש לך! @bezalelsm גם בנערי גבעות מהשומרון שבשבוע שעבר השליכו אבנים על כוח צה"ל היה צריך לירות? אה, שכחתי- דין שונה לאויבים… לא מקבלת את התירוצים וההסברים הנלוזים שלך אתה בריון ומסית https://t.co/y1If8XYCdH
— מיכל רוזין (@Michal_Rozin) April 22, 2018
Israeli human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky said Smotrich is “a repulsive moron”. Smotrich is known for his inflammatory Tweets on Twitter.
Earlier in the month, he claimed the Reform movement was “a bunch of trolls” for their attempts to put billboards at Tel Aviv airport and informing women that it’s illegal for them to be compelled to change seats if an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is refusing to sit in the seat next to them.
Featured Image: CC/TheAntiMedia.org
Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
