A 15-year-old Palestinian-American youth was severely beaten by Israeli police in East Jerusalem on July 3 [1]. The beating was caught on video. [2] According to the human rights group Addameer, the victim, Tarek Abu Khdeir, from Tampa, Florida, was beaten by two undercover Israeli police in the yard of his uncle’s home in East Jerusalem. [3]
Tarek, who sustained serious injuries to the face and head was arrested and held without charge by Israeli police, who denied him access to medical care for five hours. Tarek is a relative of Mohamed Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old Palestinian boy found burned to death on Wednesday in what was apparently an act of retribution by Israeli extremists for the killing of three Israeli teenagers. [4]
Urge the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, and the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem to protest Tarek’s beating by Israeli police, to demand that he receive adequate medical attention and due process, and to attend his court hearing on Sunday morning.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/tarek
If you’re on Twitter, join the Twitter Storm NOW (11am Pacific/1pm Central/2pm Eastern/9pm Palestine) being led by @samidounpp. The hashtag is #FreeTarek.
Thank you for helping protect a US citizen abroad,
Robert Naiman and Megan Iorio
Just Foreign Policy
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References:
1. “Israel holds US boy without charge after police nearly beat him to death,” Rania Khalek, Electronic Intifada, 7/05/2014, http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-holds-us-boy-without-charge-after-police-nearly-beat-him-death
2. “Videos: savage beating by Israeli police in neighborhood where murdered teen was kidnapped,” Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada, 07/04/2014, http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/videos-savage-beating-israeli-police-neighborhood-where-murdered-teen-was
3. “Urgent Appeal: Attend Palestinian-American child Tarek Abu Khdeir’s court hearing on Sunday to protest his violent beating in Shofat by undercover Israeli police agents,” Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, 4 July 2014, http://addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=706
4. “Autopsy Suggests Palestinian Boy Was Burned Alive, Official Says,” Jodi Rudoren, New York Times, July 5, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/world/middleeast/autopsy-suggests-palestinian-boy-was-burned-alive-reports-say.html