[1/2]Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, who was released from an Israeli prison on Sunday, holds her pillow as she sits on her bed in her room in the village of Nabi Saleh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 30, 2018. Portal/Raneen Sawafta/File Photo Purchase license rights
NABI SALEH, West Bank, Nov 6 (Portal) – Israeli troops on Monday arrested a Palestinian activist, considered a hero in the occupied West Bank since she was a teenager, on suspicion of inciting violence, but her mother denied the claim, saying it was based on a fake Instagram post.
The Israeli military said it arrested 22-year-old Ahed Tamimi in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. Tamimi rose to fame in 2017 when, at the age of 16, she slapped an Israeli soldier who was raiding her village. She and others have been protesting against Israeli land confiscations for years.
Tamimi “is suspected of inciting violence and calling for terrorist activities,” the military said.
Her mother, Nariman Tamimi, said more than a dozen Israeli soldiers entered her home overnight and arrested her daughter.
Israeli authorities claimed the young woman “wrote an inciting (Instagram) post calling for the killing of settlers and saying that what Hitler did was not enough – but Ahed does not have an Instagram account.” said her mother in an interview.
Some Israeli media published a screenshot of what appeared to be an Instagram post from an account with Tamimi’s name and picture. The text threatened the “slaughter” of Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Portal was unable to find the Instagram account with the handle “ahed_tamimi15” or independently authenticate the image. The military did not comment on the image.
After slapping the soldier, Tamimi was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to charges including assault.
She is one of hundreds in the territory who were arrested when violence broke out between Israeli and Gaza militants last month.
Israel says its arrests in the West Bank are aimed in part at thwarting attacks as it wages a ground assault against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip following a deadly Oct. 7 rampage by the militant group in Israel.
Violence also occurred in the West Bank, where there were regular clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians. According to the UN, Israeli troops have killed at least 141 Palestinians in the area since October 7, including 43 children.
Reporting by Ismael Khader in Nabi Saleh, West Bank; Writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.
Acquire license rights, opens new tab