Video: As Obama lands, Israeli soldiers violently arrest Palestinian 8-year-olds on their way to school

Ali Abunimah 20 March 2013

Video posted by the Israeli organization B’Tselem shows Israeli occupation forces, armed and financed by the United States, violently arresting Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron today as US President Barack Obama arrived for a visit to Israel.

The video shows harrowing scenes of young children clinging to parents as heavily-armed Israeli occupiers drag them away.

According to B’Tselem:

B’Tselem this morning urgently contacted the Army’s Legal Advisor for Judea and Samaria, demanding his emergency intervention regarding the detention of numerous children, including some as young as 8 to 10 years old, by the Israeli military this morning in Hebron. Preliminary information received this morning indicates that Soldiers detained or arrested over twenty minors on their way to school. About ten of them were released. The video was filmed by an international activist.

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Comments

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Jim Hyder replied on

They can't take one day off so children could perhaps see President Obama. May they burn in hell.

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jimi no replied on

and why would anyone like to see the Devil in person?

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Bushniki Farfel replied on

... andthe world does not watch any more... Why? As crimes like this continue against children continue...

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Michaele replied on

The actions of Israel are obscene. Period. It would be good if President Obama saw this...or his wife and kids saw it. This is just sickening.

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courtney replied on

why would it be good? Rest assured he is aware of EVERYTHING that is going on around him- He chooses to turn his head the other way and fake ignorance, which just makes him look more incompetent...Personally I think he should stay out of it, but if he gets involved he should help innocent people not aid terrorists with American Citizens money.

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Michaele replied on

and I think he should be helping innocent people with our money. My earlier comment was at best wishful thinking...but of course he knows.

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donnadara replied on

The President is behaving as the majority of Congress wants him to behave. Have you not heard the many complaints from Americans claiming that he is Anti-Semitic and not sufficiently supportive of Israel? Before you call someone incompetent, when was the last you contacted your congressional representatives and told them how you think Israel should be treated?

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Jim Hyder replied on

I am sending your replies to President Obama. He needs to know what the problems are in Palestine and why Israel is the trouble with the Middle East.

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Jerry replied on

I spent time in the West Bank in 2008 and heard stories from native Jews and Palestinians about how they were a close people before the mass infusion of Zionists into the country since 1948.

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Reta Krukowski replied on

I watched this film and it makes me terribly sad and mad. This is how those people are treated all the time or worse. So many republicans that I know and see comment have no problem with this and I really believe if they could get away with it, they would do it to the populations in the states that don't agree with them.
Israel is not that far from being like the Nazis that killed so many of them. They had no right to go into that country and steal all the land and destroy the property of the Palestinians. Just we had no right to steal the land of the Indians and then kill them because they didn't like it.

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Peter Loeb replied on

The connection between Israeli and Nazi actions is called "Social Darwinism".
It has appeared often over the centuries. It peaked at the time T. Herzl was
fathering (and mothering) Zionism. For Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1853-1927)
the superior "civilized" peoples were teutonic/aryan. Jews and others (conveniently
left out of the picture) were not fit to survive (result: the Holocaust). For "God's
Afflicted Saints" invading and conquering the North American continent over 400 years
earlier the indigeonous "savages" were uncivilized and were slaughtered. (S.H.
Chamberlain was born in Britain but his influence re: the supremacy of the teutonic race was in Germany: Herr Hitler then in Austria, was impressed.

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LesBaer1911 replied on

Obama stands for nothing. Obviously does not know
right from wrong or act on it. While the US is providing
weapons to an illegal settlement to protect what? To
protect stolen lands with savages. It would seem the
wrong side is getting the weapons of defense. Look who
is being slaughtered.

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donnadara replied on

Let me know when the President is allowed to make foreign policy decisions without Congressional input.

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Deborah Hawkins replied on

Reta: I watched with hope and a prayer Obama's speech today in Jerusalem Convention Center, anticipating that FINALLY he would get around to the Palestinian issues of a Statehood. Finally at the nearly end of the 50 minutes, about around the 35minutes into the speech, he finally did! It caused me to weep, because first he had to secure the audience both to trust the U.S. "has their back", and the Iron Dome, blah blah blah the Holocaust etc. I was ready to give up hope, but finally he came down to the problem for them. To keep the Palestinians without their State, will be the downfall of Israel. He finally said it! Yet, it took a lot of time to subtly get to the meat of the problem. Mindful that politics back home play a huge role for him. Yet it was the proudest I ever was in 6 yrs of this man and his efforts, yet realizing that he is a Dreamer & Idealist and until there is a consequence to theSettlements, nothing practical will be done, except hope & dreams on both sides of the wall.
It's really worth watching this video once they get it up by tommorrow, The whole speech, and towards the end, finally he demands of the young folks there, they must take the gauntlet away from their autocratic leaders, i.e. Bibi, etc. and gang. In his own words of course....but he does get there! It takes patience to watch this speech however, yet he finally does what only Jimmy Carter has done in all these many years, speak to the conscience of the younger folks in Israel. But tiptoes to get there. Not a wake up call of course unless one is good in reading how he uses the subtleties first. To address their fears, their history, their ongoing fears of their neighbors, but insists that nothing will changte until they do as MLK eventually did. And Obama does not have the same "metal" as King did of course, Vision yes, but fortitude for the challenges, no. That's the sad part. (imo)

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Renea Stark replied on

Now this is what I would say we should be fighting against and yet our money is being used to support this? These are all of our children and we had better wake up.

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Yehuda bernstein replied on

A. Note that Israeli Lawyers and Judicial intervention released immediately half of the detained! Police abuse in Democratic law abiding nations is tempered by acsess to Lawyers and Judges...Even Palestinians have such acsess in Israel! In Syria or Gaza they would have been SHOT on the spot! Obama's US Army would have secretly detained them or Bush's CIA tortured them...
B . missing is the context of. wHYthey were detained.

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DrMe replied on

Context?!
1) wow! you mean Israel was pressured into immediately doing the right thing and releasing SOME of those wrongly accused. I should think so!
2) if Palestinians were so great at shooting Israelis, they'd already control Israel and it would be called PALESTINE. Try logic
3) Are you saying that Israel is better than the US just because they didn't murder the children immediately? That's nonsense. The US is disgusting and is funding Israel so there's really no differentiating between the two anyway.

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Anonymous replied on

You can't be serious...Palestinians in Gaza have no access to clean drinking water and electricity, let alone access to lawyers and judges! The bottom line is they are school children and should not be treated like criminals for probably throwing rocks! Comparing Israel's wrongdoings to the extremes of other Arab nations will get us/you nowhere and will hinder any chance of progression/peace

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Anonymous replied on

It looks horrible, but the video only starts with the seemingly random arrest of the children. What it doesn't show is what led to that. Stone throwing? vandalism? Theft? Were there any warnings to the kids (and their guardians, if there were any)? If these kids did commit crimes, they should get sent to juvenile detention, the same as they would in the US. This video conveniently cuts out the prequel, or any explanation of what happened to the kids afterwards.

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jimi no replied on

yes exactly....you got that right....more blaming the victim, 8 year olds are known for doing things that require their forceful detention by heavily armed and trained men in combat gear, I mean they thrown stones and steal candy whenever they can, bring in the tanks...

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donnadara replied on

I'm pretty annoyed to see all the Obama bashing on this thread. I didn't realize that President Obama is the prime minister of Israel. Or the dictator of the U.S. who is able to control the money given to Israel by himself.

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jimi no replied on

then realize, they are one and the same

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Reta Krukowski replied on

I am always learning new things and what surprises me most about so many people is that they really think the president has the power and makes all the decision. Congress has the right to veto him if they have 2/3rds majority.
Just like I keep reading from so many republicans about the president allowing abortions. The president has nothing to do with that decision, if he did, did you not ever ask yourself why Bush didn't do anything about it for 8 years. That decision was made when President Obama was a little boy in 1973 by the Supreme Court Justices. Instead of complaining about the president, maybe you should look up who you should be blaming. Oh, about the drones, those started under Clinton and I think one was used then Bush used them and now Obama but it is the CIA and military that makes the decision who to bomb. They call up the president everytime and say can I bomb this place. If you are going to speak, at least try and research what you are going to talk about for you won't appear as biggest ass as most your republicans are.

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Bibi replied on

Why do Zionists find it necessary to beat children to prove how brave they are? When I was in the army we had a saying... To fold up faster than a Zionist faced with an armed enemy.... It was normally used to describe a coward. This video just shows how apt that saying was.

Ali Abunimah

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.