A section of Israel’s Apartheid barrier painted with a portrait of Palestinian Ahed Tamimi in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank Photo The Week/AFP
West Bank – On Monday night Israeli troops raided the home of Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. She was arrested on charges of allegedly “inciting violence and calling for terrorist activity to be carried out”, according to the terrorist Israeli military, citing an Instagram post. However, Ahed Tamimi’s mother denied the claim, stating it was based on a fake Instagram post.
Tamimi gained widespread recognition and became a symbol of Palestinian resistance following a viral video in 2012. The video captured her confrontation with an Israeli soldier, who had come to arrest her brother at their family home. The incident regained attention in February 2022 when the same video resurfaced, falsely identifying her as a Ukrainian girl telling a Russian soldier to “go back to your country”.
In December 2017, at just 16 years old, Tamimi, along with her mother and 20-year-old cousin Nour, gained international recognition after she slapped an Israeli soldier who had raided her village and shot her cousin Mohammed Tamimi in the head with a rubber-coated steel pellet. Following her arrest by the Israeli army, she was charged with 12 offences, including assault, incitement, and previous incidents of stone-throwing, resulting in her eight-month imprisonment. Alongside others, she had been protesting Israeli land seizures for several years.
Tamimi arrested on false charges
Certain Israeli media outlets shared a screenshot that seemed to be from an Instagram post under Tamimi’s name and picture, threatening violence against West Bank settlers in Israel. However, the Instagram account, registered under the handle “ahed_tamimi15,” is non-existent. Tamimi’s mother, Nariman, refuted the claim in an interview with Al Jazeera, stating, “There are dozens of (online) pages in Ahed’s name with her photo, with which she has no connection” and that her daughter “does not have an Instagram account”.
Despite her prominence and the admiration she garnered, Tamimi has found herself facing false charges of inciting terrorism. A fate Nadia Meer, founder of 2 Suns Shamsaan organisation, is not surprised about given the numerous calls for Tamimi’s arrest.
“It wasn’t a surprise either for Ahed. She knew that this was likely to come because there’ve been growing calls for her arrest. Her father was arrested almost two weeks ago. There’s been a lot [of people on] social media attacking her from the settler movement. Ahed herself with shamsan when we started the initiative, which was a children’s initiative to provide them a platform to communicate their truths, she was an admin even on our social media accounts. At that time when she was arrested our shamsan accounts were all hacked as well. She has chosen not to go back onto social media after that. I know that she does not have any social media accounts. There are many accounts with her profile pictures on them claiming to be her but it’s not her.”
The Israeli army celebrated Tamimi’s arrest, publishing a picture on Facebook and asking: “Where is her smile now?”.
Tamimi’s arrest is not a singular occurrence but rather a harsh reminder of the systematic repression Palestinian activists endure. Israeli forces have consistently used oppressive tactics, such as arbitrary arrests, administrative detentions, and social media monitoring, to stifle dissenting voices. Since October 7, Israel has conducted relentless overnight raids, detaining approximately 1 740 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Many are imprisoned under laws and military orders that permit detention without trial or formal charges, highlighting the ruthless nature of these actions.
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The South African connection
Tamimi, along with her cousin Janna Jihad Ayyad Al-Tamimi, emerged as symbols of Palestinian resistance, capturing the hearts of many with their courage and determination. The two, described by Nadia Meer as her ”Palestinian daughters” embarked on a speaking tour in South Africa in 2016, organised by the Shamsan organisation. During the tour, she, alongside five other children, shared her experiences and the harsh realities of life under occupation as well as promoted the Shamsan children’s calendar, depicting their lives and aspirations. Their captivating artwork garnered attention, drawing South Africa into the story of Palestinian resilience. Meer was extremely impressed with the Tamimi family and their resilience to the occupation and a friendship grew from that.
“TheTamimis particularly impressed me because Nabi Saleh is a very small village. Their resilience particularly, as they chose to start demonstrating including women and children in their demonstrations, I found that fascinating. Having engaged firstly, my communication with the adults in the family but then meeting the children and hearing them very articulately expres why they get involved and how they feel, that kind of prompted me to to engage with them further. We asked for them to do artwork. As they were drawing Janna, for example, was only 10 years old and Ahed was 14 at that time they did drawings [in 2016] and they spoke about what their hopes and dreams were. This is how we connected and I just felt that they needed to be given a bigger platform so more people understood how they felt.”
Hope amidst adversity
Tamimi’s cousin, Mohammed, has been detained without trial since July. Furthermore, her father, Bassem Tamimi, was arrested last week and brutally beaten, resulting in his hospitalisation. Since the arrests of Tamimi, her father, and others detained since October 7, their families have been kept in the dark about their whereabouts or how they are doing. The absence of transparency, denial of legal representation, and worsening prison conditions raise serious concerns about their safety. These circumstances echo the injustices reminiscent of the Apartheid era in South Africa.
“Since the 7th of October no one and none of the prisoners have been taken before any courts. This is an unprecedented time. Also all prison visits, contact with lawyers, all of that has been denied since that time. Prisoner privileges have also been removed. Normally prisoners would get to spend an hour or two hours out in a courtyard but now that has stopped. They’ve blocked water to prisoners, giving them an hour of water per day. From the family’s side, they are all very concerned. There are many other children that are in prison. Everything is much worse for them and with no checks and balances, with Ahed and others not being able to even access a lawyer, there’s a huge concern as to what could happen. There have been two prisoners that have been killed in detention now over this period.”
