Palestinian girl, mother charged with assaulting Israeli soldiers

JERUSALEM: A Palestinian girl, who was filmed kicking soldiers in attempt to push them off her West Bank home, and her mother, were indicted Monday with assault and incitement.

Israel's Military Prosecution filed the indictments against Ahed Tamimi, 17, and her mother, Nariman Tamimi, in the Judea Military Court in the West Bank.

The two were charged with 12 counts, including aggravated assault, hindering a soldier in the line of duty, incitement, threatening a soldier's life, and stone-throwing.

The charges concern six different incidents of clashes with Israeli troops.

The main incident took place on December 15, during which Ahed Tamimi and her 21-year-old cousin were caught on video kicking and slapping two soldiers in the courtyard of her family home in the West Bank village of Nebi Saleh.



Her mother is seen in the footage getting between her daughter and the soldiers, trying to push them away or to separate them from her daughter.

Ahed and Nariman Tamimi participate regularly in protests against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, during which Palestinian villagers march and sometimes throw stones at the soldiers, while the soldiers try to disperse them with tear gas, stun grenade, water cannon with stinky water, and sometimes rubber-coated bullets.

According to the indictments, Ahed threw stones at soldiers, participated in a violent riot, and threatened soldiers.

Nariman Tamimi is indicted with "assault" over her involvement in the December 15 incidents, as well as with "incitement to terrorism" on Facebook.

Ahed's cousin, Nur Tamimi, was indicted on Sunday with aggravated assault of a soldier in the line of duty.

In the footage, the soldiers did not respond to Tamimi's actions. The footage quickly became viral on Israeli mainstream and social media, sparking anger and calls to charge the girl.

Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred after soldiers shot and seriously hit a Palestinian boy from the village, and the Tamimis were trying to push the soldiers away from their home.

Ahed Tamimi became a Palestinian national icon, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling on the phone Ahed's father to encourage him in face of the arrests.

The Palestinians struggle against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, territories that Israel seized in the 1967 and has held ever since, despite international protest.