Tamimi remains in prison after closed court session
▶ Israeli judge orders supporters, diplomats and journalists out of court at Palestinian teenager’s trial
Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi appears for a hearing at an Israeli military court, near the West Bank village of Betunia, yesterday. The court, held behind closed doors, was adjourned until March 11.
The trial of a Palestinian teenager, who was filmed shoving and slapping Israeli troops outside her home, got under way yesterday, but the presiding judge abruptly ordered the case be heard behind closed doors.
Ahed Tamimi, 17, has become an international symbol of Palestinian resistance after her arrest in December last year, which came days after her confrontation with the Israeli soldiers.
She faces charges in a military court that could result in her spending years in prison stemming from that incident and others, including threatening a soldier, attacking a soldier under aggravated circumstances, interfering with a soldier in carrying out his duties, incitement and throwing objects at individuals or property.
Ahed’s supporters had hoped to turn the proceedings into a trial of Israel’s 50-year-old occupation of the West Bank but one of judge Menachem Liberman’s first actions was to clear the court of diplomats, journalists and her backers.
He said the move was intended to protect Ahed’s privacy as a minor, but it came despite the fact that the teenager’s lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said her client was willing to waive this right.
“This court of occupation fears the light shone on it by this case.” Ms Lasky said.
“After it placed Ahed under open-ended detention in violation of her rights as a minor, the court now uses the false pretext of protecting these rights to shield itself from the criticism this case raises.”
On the eve of the proceedings, already once delayed, Amnesty International called for Ahed’s release, saying that keeping her in custody was a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a state party.
Rights groups say the case highlights harsh Israeli army behaviour against Palestinian minors, including widely criticised military trials.
But Israeli defenders of the proceedings say that soldiers need to know attacks against them will not be tolerated.
“There’s a broad consensus on defending soldiers from violence and humiliation,” said Shmuel Rosner, an analyst at the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute. “Showing soldiers have the backing of the entire system is at least as important as winning in the court of international opinion. These soldiers are part of the Israeli family, the sons and daughters of the country.”
In the December incident, Ahed was filmed by her mother Nariman screaming at and pushing two soldiers. She is seen kicking one soldier and slapping his face and threatens to punch the other. Her supporters say she was affected by the army’s prior shooting of a cousin in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet.
The incitement part of the charge sheet quotes Ahed as saying on her mother’s video that after US President Donald Trump’s December 6 announcement recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “they need to bear responsibility for every response that will come from us whether it’s a stabbing attack, suicide bombing or throwing rocks”.
Ahed’s father, Bassem, told Reuters yesterday: “We don’t expect justice. They are trying to maximise the charge so they can maximise the punishment. We hope the international community will reduce the Zionist will to suppress Ahed and our children.”
Ghassan Khatib, the vice president of Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah, said Ahed’s importance as a symbol was in part because “she breaks the stereotype of the resistance being Islamic in nature”.
“Her look breaks this stereotype. That’s why so many people are so proud of her.”