Court extends remand of Palestinian teen who slapped Israeli soldiers

A military court on Monday extended the remand of a Palestinian teenager who was filmed hitting Israeli soldiers for at least another two days.

Ahed Tamimi, 16, was ordered to be detained until Wednesday to allow the court time to decide whether she should be allowed out on bail ahead of her trial.

Prosecutors are seeking to have her kept in custody until her trial ends.

Tamimi’s lawyer, Gaby Lasky, argued in court that her continued detention violates international conventions since she is a minor.

The teenager has been hailed as a hero by Palestinians who see her as bravely standing up to Israeli forces in the West Bank. Israelis accuse her family of using her as a pawn in staged provocations.

Tamimi has been charged with 12 counts including assault and could face a lengthy jail term if convicted.

The charges relate to events in the video and five other incidents. They include stone-throwing, incitement and making threats.

Her mother Nariman has also been arrested over the incident, as has her cousin Nour Tamimi, 20. Nour Tamimi was released on bail on January 5, while Nariman Tamimi remains in custody.

Ahed Tamimi’s family says the December 15 incident that led to the arrests occurred in the yard of their home in Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah in the West Bank.

Israel’s military said the soldiers were in the area to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones at Israeli motorists.

A video shows the cousins approaching two soldiers and telling them to leave before shoving, kicking and slapping them. Ahed Tamimi is the most aggressive of the two in the video. The heavily armed soldiers do not respond in the face of what appears to be an attempt to provoke rather than seriously harm them. They then move backwards after Nariman Tamimi becomes involved.

The scuffle took place amid clashes and protests against US President Donald Trump’s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Relatives say that a member of the Tamimi family was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet fired during those protests.

Ahed Tamimi, arrested in the early hours of December 19, was involved in a series of previous incidents, and older pictures of her confronting soldiers have been widely published. Tamimi has become something of an icon for Palestinians who have flooded social media with praise and support.

Rights group Amnesty International on Monday called on Israel to release her immediately.

“Nothing that Ahed Tamimi has done can justify the continuing detention of a 16-year-old girl. The Israeli authorities must release her without delay. In capturing an unarmed teenage girl’s assault on two armed soldiers wearing protective gear, the footage of this incident shows that she posed no actual threat and that her punishment is blatantly disproportionate,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty.

“Ahed Tamimi’s ensuing arrest and military trial exposes the Israeli authorities’ discriminatory treatment of Palestinian children who dare to stand up to ongoing, often brutal, repression by occupying forces,” she added.

Among the charges against Ahed were aggravated assault of a soldier, threatening a soldier, preventing soldiers from carrying out their duties, incitement, disturbing the public peace and stone-throwing.

The incitement charge refers to a statement given by Ahed to her mother, who was filming the December 15 incident on Facebook Live.

“I hope that everyone will take part in the demonstrations as this is the only means to achieve the result,” she said. “Our strength is in our stones, and I hope that the world will unite to liberate Palestine, because Trump made his declaration and [the Americans] need to take responsibility for any response that comes from us,” Ahed added.

“Whether it is stabbings or suicide bombings or throwing stones, everyone must do his part and we must unite in order for our message to be heard that we want to liberate Palestine,” she concluded.