- Joined
- May 20, 2016
- Messages
- 34,432
- Reaction score
- 15,874
Really powerful and on-point commentary by the mother of Ahed Tamimi, who became internet famous after slapping an Israeli soldier who had shot her cousin, and just why Ahed's image seemed to resonate with Western observers to a degree that countless other images had not. In her opinion, it was largely due to the fact that Ahed, like many but not most Palestinians, is particularly light-skinned, light-haired, and similar looking to Western children.
Ahed Tamimi’s mother said that the media attention and worldwide solidarity that her daughter received following her arrest by Israeli occupation forces was rooted in racism.
“Frankly it is probably Ahed’s looks that prompted this worldwide solidarity and that’s racist by the way,” Nariman Tamimi told the Anadolu Agency, “because many Palestinian children are in Ahed’s position but weren’t treated in this way.”
“In fact one journalist wrote in Haaretz once on why they sympathized with Ahed when they were trying to arrest me once; they arrested me and she was crying,” she explained. “It’s because they felt that she looked like them, she said. So perhaps the world showed more solidarity because she looks like their children, but all Palestinian children are Ahed Tamimi.”
“There are thousands of stories that the media needs to pay attention to and highlight all of the occupation’s crimes, because the occupation needs to be seen as the war crime it is and legal measures need to be taken to that effect,” she added.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180802-tamimis-mother-support-for-ahed-is-based-on-racism/
Ahed Tamimi’s mother said that the media attention and worldwide solidarity that her daughter received following her arrest by Israeli occupation forces was rooted in racism.
“Frankly it is probably Ahed’s looks that prompted this worldwide solidarity and that’s racist by the way,” Nariman Tamimi told the Anadolu Agency, “because many Palestinian children are in Ahed’s position but weren’t treated in this way.”
“In fact one journalist wrote in Haaretz once on why they sympathized with Ahed when they were trying to arrest me once; they arrested me and she was crying,” she explained. “It’s because they felt that she looked like them, she said. So perhaps the world showed more solidarity because she looks like their children, but all Palestinian children are Ahed Tamimi.”
“There are thousands of stories that the media needs to pay attention to and highlight all of the occupation’s crimes, because the occupation needs to be seen as the war crime it is and legal measures need to be taken to that effect,” she added.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180802-tamimis-mother-support-for-ahed-is-based-on-racism/
