I really don't have a lot to say about this that hasn't been said before. A never ending tragedy most Americans ignore until it is shoved in their faces by an incident like this. Even then, the majority of Americans are able to disassociate themselves all too easily because, though the kid is an America citizen, he is still "one of them".
This 15 year old High School student, Tariq Kheidr from Tampa, FL was visiting Palestine when his cousin was kidnapped and burned alive, his body dumped in a forest outside Jerusalem, which many suspect was a revenge attack for the three murdered Israeli teenagers whose bodies were found in the West Bank on Monday (Israeli news reported today that arrests had been made in Muhammad’s case). Demonstrations broke out during the funeral procession in Muhammad’s Shuafat neighborhood, during which Tarek was arrested by three masked Israeli policemen and beaten while in custody.
He was an innocent bystander who was brutally beaten by the Israeli border police. What happens next? The videos of the beating are up on YouTube, they are pretty horrendous.
But almost as horrible are the comments of the pro Israeli trolls on the videos. Israel is an unnatural disaster in progress. I have met many young Israelis over the years and only on a few rare occasions havve I ever felt good about what they had to say. When ever the conversation turned to Palestine, the dehumanizing rhetoric, robotic hate, racist stereotypes come vomiting forth. This is a kind of institutionalized violence that is passed down and reinforced from generation to generation, I have to admit that I have met a few Israelis who have been able to transcend this cycle, but I fear they are a persecuted minority in their own society. It would seem that there will be no happy ending here, ever.
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