Prominent actors, musicians, and authors demand Ahed Tamimi’s release

By +972 Magazine February 12, 2018 | Edit

Danny Glover, Rosario Dawson, Cornel West, Angela Davis and others sign letter demanding Israel release the 17-year-old Palestinian from custody.

By +972 Magazine Staff

Ahed Tamimi in the Ofer prison military court. December 20, 2017. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

Dozens of major American actors, athletes, musicians, scholars, and political figures signed a statement published Monday by American human rights group, Dream Defenders, calling for the release of Ahed Tamimi. Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian who was arrested in December following the publication of a video showing her pushing and slapping armed Israeli soldiers on the porch of her family’s home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

Tamimi is set to appear before an Israeli military court on Tuesday, after being indicted on charges of assault and incitement, which could potentially land her in prison for several years. She has been in Israeli custody since her arrest.

Signatories of the letter, titled “Dream Defenders & Allies Stand with Ahed Tamimi and the Palestinian Freedom Struggle,” include Angela Davis, Jesse Williams, Danny Glover, Alice Walker, Rosario Dawson, Cornel West, Talib Kweli, Marc Lamont Hill, Michelle Alexander, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Michael Bennett.

Members of Dream Defenders, a Florida-based community organizing and racial justice group, traveled to Palestine last year, where they met the Tamimi family.

The statement emphasizes the parallels between the Palestinian struggle and that of African-Americans in the United States:

ICE, border patrol and FBI train with Israeli soldiers, police, and border agents, utilizing similar repressive profiling tactics to target and harass our communities. Too many of our children quickly learn that they may be imprisoned or killed simply for who they are. From Trayvon Martin to Mohammed Abu Khdeir and Khalif Browder to Ahed Tamimi – racism, state violence and mass incarceration have robbed our people of their childhoods and their futures.

The statement also called on U.S. lawmakers to sign a bill introduced by Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum, titled “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act.”

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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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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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