This Activist Is Fighting for a Palestinian Girl Who Stood Up to an Israeli Soldier

Ahed Tamimi is a 16-year-old prisoner of war.

Tamimi made headlines worldwide when she slapped an Israeli soldier on camera after she learned that her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammad, was shot in the face with a rubber-coated bullet. Mohannad was placed in a medical coma for 72 hours and awoke disabled, with some of his bones unable to heal for weeks.

Ahed now faces 10 years in prison as a result of her courage to stand up for her family. According to Nerdeeen Kiswani, her case is symbolic of what Palestinians face every day under Israeli occupation. The Tamimi family has been regularly harassed, detained, beaten over the years, because of their role in organizing weekly protests of Israeli encroachment.

Ahed is one of 311 Palestinian child prisoners and over 450 adults in Israeli jails as of November 2017. Israel has reportedly detained, interrogated arrested or jailed 10,000 Palestinian children and have killed 1,800 since 2,000.

Kiswani urges U.S. residents to call their local representatives and encourage them to sponsor the #NoWayToTreatAChild campaign.

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