Months after shattering his skull, IDF arrests teen in pre-dawn raid

By +972 Magazine February 26, 2018 | Edit

Mohammed Tamimi, cousin of Ahed Tamimi, was released several hours later. The Israeli army arrested nine others in Nabi Saleh, and video shows soldiers spraying the village with putrid ‘skunk’ water.

By +972 Magazine Staff

Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet by the Israeli army shortly before the video of Ahed and Nur was filmed. (Activestills/Oren Ziv)

Israeli soldiers arrested 10 young Palestinians in a pre-dawn raid on the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh early Monday, including Mohammed Tamimi, the cousin of Ahed Tamimi whom soldiers shot in the head with a rubber bullet several months ago, shattering his skull.

Mohammed is currently awaiting surgery to reconstruct the part of his skull that was removed. The Israeli army released him Monday afternoon, according to Gaby Lasky, Ahed and Nariman’s attorney.

Video of the arrest raid published by local citizen journalist Bilal Tamimi (above) also showed Israeli soldiers spraying the village with putrid ‘skunk’ water during the night-time raid. The ‘Skunk’ is meant for crowd control, but Israeli forces have been documented using it punitively against homes and schools in the past.

The now-famous video of Ahed Tamimi attempting to push two armed soldiers off of her family’s porch was filmed shortly after Mohammed was shot.

Ahed has been in Israeli military custody since her arrest on December 19, following the publication of the video. A judge ruled in January that she will remain in prison until the end of her trial. She faces 12 different charges, including incitement to violence and assaulting a soldier, which could potentially land her in prison for several years.

While the case has garnered significant international attention, the Israeli military prison system’s treatment of Ahed and Mohammed is not unique. According Palestinian human rights group Adameer, Israel was imprisoning over 300 Palestinian minors as the end of December 2017, .

Earlier this month, dozens of American cultural luminaries, including Alice Walker, Rosario Dawson, Cornel West, and Danny Glover called for Tamimi’s release.

+972 Magazine asked the IDF Spokesperson why Mohammed was arrested. No response was received by the time of publication. It will be added here if and when it is received.

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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