Tag Archives: palestine

Tamimi: Israel’s claims that we are “actors” is a form of madness

laughable – Alex Jones clone Oren!

 By Nathan Schmidt- PNN/ Bethlehem/

 Former Ambassador to the U.S. and Israel’s current Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, Michael Oren has reiterated allegations that the Tamimi family are ‘not Palestinian’ and the products of propaganda.

As recently as 24 January, Oren made thus-far unsubstantiated claims as to the validity of the Tamimi family. In a Twitter post, Deputy Minister Oren claimed the Tamimi family were, ‘part of the Paliwood industry, which sends children to confront IDF soldiers in order to damage Israel’s image for money.’

ילד בן 12 מצטלם עם גבס ביד ימין, ויום למחרת עם גבס בצד שמאל. תגידו לי אתם אם זה לא ממומן ומבויים?
משפחת תמימי היא חלק מתעשייה ״Paliwood״ ששולחת ילדים להתעמת עם חיילי צה״ל , כדי לגרום נזק תדמיתי לישראל בעבור כסף.

— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) January 24, 2018

Tamimi: Such claims are a form of “madness and stupidity” 

In response to these allegations, Basim al-Tamimi, father of Ahed, in an exclusive interview with PNN, described the statements as a form of “madness and stupidity of the occupier.”

“[The Israeli Occupation] is drowning in the illusion of power, and therefore thinks in an illogical way.”

Denying Oren’s claims, Tamimi said the family, deeply rooted  in the land of Palestine, will not respond to those who have no roots in this land, especially that such allegations aim to deny the family’s right in its own land.

“We are staying here,” Tamimi said.

“If, as the deputy minister claims, everything we did is just a play, then why is Tamimi in porison? They are contradicting themselves in all narratives. They do not want the world to see the true face of the Palestinians,” he added.

On 19 December, the day which coincided with Ahed Tamimi’s arrest by Occupation Forces from her home in Nabi Saleh, a previous post by Oren accused the Tamimi family of ‘(dressing) up kids in American clothes’ and ‘(paying) them to provoke IDF troops on camera.’

‘This cynical and cruel use of children constitutes abuse. Human rights organizations must investigate!’ Deputy Minister Oren says in his post.

The Tamimi family—which may not be a real family—dresses up kids in American clothes and pays them to provoke IDF troops on camera. This cynical and cruel use of children constitutes abuse. Human rights organizations must investigate!
https://t.co/Pm5nXhcbo0 via @wallanews

— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) December 19, 2017

In an article published by newspaper Haaretz on January 25th, Deputy Minister Oren is confirmed to have already lead an investigation into the Tamimi family two years ago.

The findings of the Knesset subcommittee concluded that the Tamimi family ‘apparently is a family.’

The Hareetz reported that the subcommittee before the Knesset Defence and Foreign Affairs committees heard testimonies from the Israeli intelligence apparatus, including the Shin Bet and the National Security Council.

Spokesman for Deputy Minister Oren confirmed that the Minister had initiated the investigation.

Jewish extremists burn Arab cars and write on walls death to the Arabs in Jerusalem

Jerusalem /PNN/

Israeli Jewish settlers overnight spray-painted anti-Palestinian graffiti on walls and torched a Palestinian-owned vehicle after raiding East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa.

Settlers reportedly spray-painted “death to the Arabs” and “price tag” graffiti in Hebrew before setting a vehicle on fire.

“Price tag” refers to an underground anti-Palestinian Israeli group that routinely attack Palestinians in the occupied territories and inside Israel.

The Israeli government still refuses to label it as a terrorist organization and considers it only as group of vandals.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Settlers’ violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

All settlements across the West Bank are illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which establishes that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.


Calls to ban Israeli poet after poem compares Ahed Tamimi to Anne Frank

PNN/ Bethlehem/

Israeli Minister of army, Avigdor Liebermann has instructed the state-run radio service Army Radio to halt any future broadcasts of Israeli poet and songwriter Yehonatan Geffen, calling the poet’s work ‘sickening and outrageous’.

On Monday night, Geffen released a short poem to his Instagram account in which he compared imprisoned Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi to famed Holocaust victim Anne Frank, David of the Biblical David and Goliath, and historic war hero and Catholic Saint, Joan of Arc.

“A pretty girl 17 years old did a terrible thing,” Geffen’s poem reads. “…on the day that the story of the struggle will be told – you, Ahed Tamimi… You will be in the same ranks as Joan of Arc, Chana Senesh and Anne Frank.”

In a fiery Facebook post, Liebermann condemned the poem and called on the Israeli media to boycott the 70 year old poet.

“The State of Israel will not give a stage to a drunk comparing a girl who perished in the Holocaust and a heroine fighter who fought against the Nazi regime to Ahad Tamimi” said Liebermann.

Liebermann was quickly rebuffed by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, however, who refuted Liebermann’s legal authority to interfere with the Army Radio broadcast.

“The legal authority to determine the content of the station’s broadcasts is only in the hands of its professional officials,” said Mandelbit.

The position of Army Radio Commander is appointed by the Ministry of army, and whose current commander, Commander Shimon Elkabetz, Lieberman called on directly to see Geffen banned, according to his Facebook post.

This is not the first time Geffen has been embroiled in controversy. In 2015, Geffen was the victim of a home invasion after a series of posts likened the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Nakba.

Palestinians burn photos of Pence ahead of his visit to Israel

PNN/ Bethlehem/

Dozens of Palestinians on Sunday evening burned photos of US vice president, Mike Pence, ahead of his arrival to meet with Netanyahu and the Israeli president on Tuesday.

The protesters, who gathered in Manger Square in Bethlehem, burned the photos and stepped on them before dumping them in the trash containers, as a form of rejection of the US policies against the Palestinians, and Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Scretary of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Mohammad Al-Masri, told PNN reporter that the event carried the same message of a previous protest which took place following Trumo’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“The Palestinian people were counting on the Arab peoples in the countries visited by the US Vice President to express their rejection of the American position,” Al-Masri said, referring to Egypot and Jordan which Pence has visited the past days.

Fatah movement announced a general strike on Tuesday, when Pence arrives to Israel, where he will meet leaders and address the Knesset.

On Sunday, Pence met with the King of Jordan, who said that “East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future state of Palestine.”

Prior to that, Pence met with the Egyptian president, Abdul-Fattah Al-Sissi.

Israeli army considering taking control of Palestinian areas in Jerusalem

PNN/ Jerusalem/

Israeli military forces are considering taking control over Shu’fat refugee camp and Kafr Aqab areas, according to information obtained by Israeli daily Haaretz.

Whilst the proposed  plan is still unknown, army officials said the decision has been motivated by an increase in unrest and violence in East Jerusalem.

The two areas are currently under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem municipality but are physically cut off from the city as a result of the separation wall.

There are approximately between 100,000 and 150,000 residents in Kafr Aqab and the Shu’fat refugee camp; they carry Israeli identity cards and have residency status in Israel.

84 Israeli violations against media freedoms in Palestine in December 2017

MADA/ Ramallah/

The last month of 2017 witnessed a sharp rise in attacks against media freedoms in Palestine as a result of a wave of Israeli attacks that accompanied the unrest in the Palestinian territories in protest against the US administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The total number of violations monitored by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) in December 2017 amounted to a total of 89 violations committed by the Israeli occupation, 84 of them, noting that the Palestinian official authorities did not commit any violations during this month. 5 of the incidents consisted of the injuries of five journalists from stones thrown by demonstrators during clashes with the Israeli occupation army.

The attacks included 9 women journalists who were subjected to serious attacks just as similar as there male’s journalists colleagues.

In addition, most if not all journalists who participated in covering these incidents on the ground suffocated from the gas bombs or they were at risk of obstructing their work or indirectly preventing them from carrying out their work and covering these protests.

It was noted during this month that the Israeli army used a new method to block the picture and prevent journalist to cover the image of what is happening on the ground, through mass detention of journalists (the detention ends when the event ends), and also using mass expulsion to prevent journalists from the opportunity to transfer the reality of what is happening on the ground.

This procedure was repeated at least twice, the first was in Hebron on 20-12-2017 and the second was implemented in Jerusalem on 29-12-2017.

On 20-12-2017, the Israeli occupation forces prevented all journalists from covering demonstrations in three locations in the city of Hebron (Bab al-Zawiya, Hawawra, and the police bridge area south of Halhul). They were expelled from the three sites and threatened with arrest if they did not comply.

In the city of Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation forces, forced dozens of journalists who were present on 29-29-2017 at Bab al-Amoud to cover the events of the fourth Friday of the Palestinian protests, to be located only behind metal barriers set by the police, and prevented them from moving freely to cover the protest that attracted the attention of dozens of foreign and Palestinian media on that day.

Furthermore, Israeli social networking pages were flooded this month with incitement to violence against journalists and the media, which led to direct calls for the killing of journalists and the removal of the media from the sites of events to prevent the transmission of what is happening on the ground from Israeli attacks. It is interesting to note that some Israeli journalists took part in this wave of incitement, as well as the silence of the Israeli authorities, who have been arresting and persecuting any Palestinian who may write or publish a statement interpreted by the Israeli authorities as inciting against the occupation or the Israelis.

Report: 909 violations against Palestinian journalists in 2017

PNN/ Ramallah/

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate announced the summary of its annual report for freedoms 2017 in special press conference on Wednesday.

The report recorded 909 violations between 1-1-2017 and 31-12-2017, including 740 by Israeli and 169 local violation by Palestinian authorities in West Bank and Gaza.

PJS president, Nasser Abu Baker focused in his opening speech on the dramatic increase in the number and nature of these violations, he also mentioned that the FAJ will gather today in Cairo to discuss the Palestinian situation.

“With this sharp escalation in the Israeli violations against our journalists, it is shameful to see increase in violations by local authorities” Abu baker said.

The PJS president condemned Facebook step in closing 158 Palestinian accounts based on Israeli request.

To his part, president of the independent commission of human rights “ICHR” Ammar Dowik praised the role of journalists, mainly in field, as they face high risk of Israeli violations. He mentioned also the partnership between ICHR and PJS in following up the violations and dealing with its.

Deputy minister of the ministry of media Mahmoud Khalifah said that the Israeli violations against the Palestinian journalists targets their narrative and aims to prevent the truth.

The Head of freedoms committee in PJS Mohammed Allaham introduced the main indicators and numbers in the report. The report said the second half of last year witnessed higher percentage of violations, the highest months were December followed by July.

Allaham said that the nature of violations in 2017 was different. “October witnessed Israeli closure for 8 offices of 3 media production companies by military orders, with raiding and closing 2 radio stations, two journalists were sentenced by 2 years because of their professional activities as journalists, financial panelty targeted 25 journalist and 28 journalists still in Israeli jails”.

The main numbers and indicators in the report are:

– The total violations in 2017 were 909, with 37% increase from 2016 numbers.

– Israeli violations are 740 “81% of the total” and the Palestinian violations are 169 “19% of the total”.

– Israeli violations in 2017 are more than 2016 by 183 violation “33% increase”.

– Palestinian violations in 2017 are more than 2016 by 64 violation “61%” increase.

– The highest violations recorded in Jerusalem by 137 violations “18% of the total”, followed by Hebron and Ramallah.

– Last December witnessed 147 violations, all by occupation forces, “20% of the total”, with increase by 406% from December 2016.

– December Also witnessed organized incitement campaign by Israeli media and social media against Palestinian journalists.

– The journalists have faces new violations by Palestinian authorities in nature, mainly the electronic crimes law, blocking and prohibiting 29 websites since last June, arresting the journalists Foad Jaradah in Gaza for 2 months, and arresting 7 journalists in WB with sentencing some of them.

Israel banned call to prayer in Ibrahimi Mosque hundreds of times in 2017

racism runs deep

PNN/ Hebron/
The Israeli occupation authorities banned the Muslim call to prayer in Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron hundreds of times last year, the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments revealed on Monday. At least 645 occasions were documented when the call was banned, with 53 occasions in December alone.

“This is a violation of Muslims’ freedom to practice their faith,” the ministry pointed out, “as well as a violation of an Islamic holy site.”

Religious Endowment Minister Yousef Idrees warned of the dangers of the increasing Israeli violations against the religious and heritage sites in the Palestinian city of Hebron. “Such measures,” he added, “are intended to take control of Palestinian and Islamic property and pave the way for illegal Israeli settlers to carry out their aggression against the city and its inhabitants.” Israel claims that the call to prayer “annoys” the Jewish settlers.

Muslims have to go through an exhaustive search and series of military checkpoints in order to enter Al-Ibrahimi Mosque for prayers. Commentators point out that this is ironic, given that it was a Jewish settler who entered the mosque in February 1994 and shot 29 Palestinian Muslims while they were at prayer.

“He used his Israeli army-issue rifle to carry out these murders,” explained MEMO’s Ibrahim Hewitt. “After this, the Israelis divided the mosque between Muslims and Jews. Settlers have access to the whole building during Jewish holidays.” The world is silent about such injustice, he added.

Source: Quds Press International News Agency

Translated by: Middle East Monitor

In collaboration with the Palestinian Media Forum