The Independent: Everything Wrong with Op-Ed on Tamimi

Last month, this video of 16 year old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi hitting IDF soldiers went viral:

If you don’t already know the full story, you can read it here.

Hiba Khan’s column in The independent entitled “Everything wrong with the reaction to Ahed Tamimi’s prosecution for slapping an Israeli soldier, ” takes a defensive position toward Tamimi, which is permissible in a column: it is after all, an opinion piece.

However, even an opinion columnist may not cross the line into statements that are factually untrue, nor may a publisher allow it.

Dishonesty

If you have to be dishonest to support your opinion, isn’t it possible that you’re just plain wrong?

For example, Khan claims:

…the sad reality for Palestinians is a life deprived of healthcare, an economy, a justice system, living in abject poverty with no food or water security and military violence against them and their children.

Just plain untrue.

Water:

• West Bank has modern water infrastructure, and coordinates with Israel on regular improvements.

Food:

• The West Bank produces and even exports olives, citrus fruit, vegetables, beef, and dairy products.
• The travel web site Trip Advisor lists “The 10 Best West Bank Restaurants.” You can see the review, or even come see the restaurants, for yourself.
• Two percent of West Bank residents are “food insecure,” an impressively low figure. For context, 7% of Americans are food insecure, over three times more than the West Bank,  by percent.

Healthcare:

• The West Bank has healthcare: with among the highest birth rates, lowest death rates and longest life expectancy rates  in the world.

Justice:

• There is indeed a Palestinian justice system.  Depending on the matter, Palestinian courts or Israeli military courts may have jurisdiction, as required under the international Hague Convention.
• Tamimi’s case is before the Israeli military juvenile court, where Tamimi is represented by a prominent, influential and highly experienced attorney, who is also the former director of Peace Now and sits on the Tel Aviv city council.

Only a Response?

Khan says:

Everyone now knows that 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi slapped an Israeli soldier. How many of us know about the events that led up to this? Telling half of a story can be more of an injustice than fabricating the entirety, and in this instance, it most certainly is.

Khan indeed is only telling half the story of the events that led up to the arrest, stating:

Soldiers had apparently parked themselves on Tamimi’s family’s land shortly after their colleagues shot her 14-year-old cousin in the face with a rubber bullet and fired tear gas at their house, smashing windows.

According to the IDF, soldiers were present in the village of Nabi Saleh in order to stop Palestinian stone throwers targeting Israeli motorists on a nearby road. Stone throwers had even entered the Tamimi house, which was why the soldiers were at that location.

Were Khan interested in giving a full background, it would have mentioned how the Tamimi family, including Ahed herself, have a history of highly publicized confrontations with IDF soliders going back several years.

Violence

According to the indictment and the viral video, Tamimi was actually punching, kicking, biting and screaming at the soldiers. In addition, last week Ahed publicly called for stabbing attacks and suicide bombings against Israelis which can be seen in this video below:

Khan wasn’t wrong when she wrote that, “violence is the norm” where the Tamimis live. She just didn’t bother to say how much of that violence is being done, and encouraged, by the Tamimis themselves.

Israel (all of it) is “occupation”

Just so we’re clear on the reason for these protests and riots: the Tamimi family objects not merely to Israel’s presence in the West Bank, but to Israel’s very existence.

When our own Managing Editor, Simon Plosker, visited the Tamimi home in 2012:

…references were made to the occupation of 1948. Not 1967 — when Nabi Saleh fell under Israeli control, having formerly been occupied by Jordan — but the year of Israel’s rebirth. “Non-violent resistance” was a strategic choice while it was stressed that under international law, the Palestinians were entitled to use “all necessary means” to resist occupation. I remembered hearing similar sentiments from Palestinian terrorists after Israeli buses and cafes had been targeted by suicide bombers.

Indeed, as seen in the video above, Ahed Tamimi herself called for exactly that sort of horrific violence.

Common sense

Khan suggests:

When an unarmed child is prosecuted for slapping a larger grown man in army gear equipped with a gun, it’s time to ask questions.

Indeed it is. But shouldn’t one of those questions be: where in the world is attacking a soldier or police officer actually legal? 

 I explained on i24 News:

I’m from Chicago…you try that on a Chicago cop, New York, Moscow, you name it: you’ll be lucky if you walk away in one piece.

But Ahed Tamimi did indeed walk away in one piece, unharmed, and even untouched. She is now in court, facing charges specific to the acts she appears to have taken, and represented by a highly prominent lawyer.

Even so, Hiba Khan is entitled to defend Tamimi and to criticize Israel in an opinion column. But she’s not allowed to misstate facts in order to do it, and The Independent must take corrective action.

Share your considered comments with The Independent at [email protected] remembering to include sender’s name, postal address and daytime telephone number to increase chances of publication and response.

Featured image: Flash90