A New York human rights organization named T’ruah describes itself as “Bringing the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Canada, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.”
T’ruah’s advocacy for democracy and human rights frequently expresses itself in the form of opposing Jewish development in Judea and Samaria. Often, it crosses the line into support for violent Palestinian extremism against Jews.
T’ruah and other similar organizations run tours in Israel, including in Judea and Samaria and Palestinian-controlled villages. One never-missed stop is Nabi Saleh, a small Palestinian village near Ramallah.
This village, with a population of about 560-600 residents, is almost entirely populated by members of the Tamimi family. It has been a focal point for weekly protests against the Jewish growth and the nearby Jewish town, Halamish.
Bassem and Nariman Tamimi put on quite a show for naive and unknowing visitors. Claiming to follow the peaceful ways of civil disobedience like Martin Luther King Jr., they omit the suicide bombings, attacking soldiers, and boulder-throwing their family has committed over the years of their “activism.”
Ahlam Tamimi, a cousin of Bassem, was convicted for her role in the 2001 Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing in Jerusalem, which killed 15 people, including 7 children, and injured 130. Ahlam, a member of Hamas, admitted to scouting the location and driving the bomber to the site.
Arriving at most famous member of Tamimi family
Of all the members of the extended Tamimi family, the most well-known is their daughter Ahed. Although Ahed appears next to her parents in talks before unaware Western audiences and claims to be a proponent of non-violent civil disobedience, at age 11, she was photographed confronting an Israeli soldier arresting her older brother, waving a fist, and threatening to punch him.
At age 14, she was filmed biting and hitting a masked Israeli soldier attempting to detain her younger brother for throwing boulders during a protest in Nabi Salih.
In December 2017, Ahed, then 16, was filmed slapping, kicking, and shouting at two Israeli soldiers outside her family’s home in Nabi Saleh. The incident followed a protest against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The teenager was arrested and charged with 12 counts, including assault, incitement, obstructing soldiers, and stone-throwing from prior incidents. She pleaded guilty to four charges – one count of assault, one of incitement, and two of obstructing soldiers – in a plea deal, serving eight months in prison.
Her mother, Nariman, was also charged with incitement and assault, while her cousin Nour Tamimi faced assault charges.
Even J-Street, no stranger to disturbing positions opposing Israel, posted Rabbi Hannah Goldstein’s blog post that described Bassem as “a person who makes videos that promote a kind of anti-Zionism that can so easily cross over into antisemitism and make the world a more dangerous place for Jews.”
B’Tselem, the most well-known of organizations that oppose Israeli defense and development policies, wrote that no one should think that Ahed is a unique case: “Ahed Tamimi’s case is exceptional only in that it garnered special media attention, but it is essentially no different from hundreds of such cases every year.”
THE PALESTINIAN CULTURE of violence that incentivizes Palestinian teenagers (and even children) to attack Jews is well documented and must be condemned and not excused by human rights organizations.
An organization that claims to promote democracy and human rights loses all credibility when it endorses a violent family that actively participates in terrorism against the Jewish people.
Although organizations like T’ruah rationalized Tamimi’s violence by blaming Israeli policies, they should have admitted being fooled by the crocodile tears and false self-righteousness of the Tamimi family and condemned their violence.
The excuse that all Palestinian violence is justifiable resistance to burdensome and illegal Israeli policies towards Palestinians falls short when examined against the situation. It is well-documented and data-supported, that Palestinian life expectancy, population numbers, and quality of life have all risen under Israeli control.
This week the veil slipped. The true motivations of the Tamimi family, and many Palestinians just like them, were revealed once again. In an interview on a podcast, Ahed, now well into her 20s, displayed the antisemitic Jew hate that has always motivated her violent “activism.”
“Palestinians are fighting Jews, not only Zionism,” she declared on an Arabic podcast last month. Tamimi highlighted her belief that “Judaism is an occupation,” and that is how the religion should always be presented to Palestinian children. “We are fighting Jews, not Zionism,” she went on.
Palestinian leaders like Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas have well-established records of saying one thing in English for naive Western consumption and a more violent and hate-filled message in Arabic for their own people’s ears.
Tamimi is following their path, telling Western visitors to her home that she favors nonviolent resistance and peaceful civil disobedience, while telling Arab podcasts that Jews are the problem.
Palestinians and their Arab ancestors have a long-documented history of antisemitism.
Contrary to the Palestinian talking point that their violence against Jews only started with Zionism, or the newest claim that it only began since Israel responded to the October 7 massacres, Arab antisemitism predates Zionism and began hundreds of years before any Jew moved back to Ottoman or British Palestine.
Tamimi’s antisemitism isn’t new; it follows her ancestors’ traditions. As long as Palestinians like Ahed are permitted to spread hate-filled messages and incentivize terrorism, Israel can only secure itself through force.
Palestinians and their Western supporters provide cover for Palestinian violence – one that spreads hate, incentivizes terrorism, and makes this region even more vicious than it is today. Responsible people actually looking to bring security and peace will condemn Ahed and those like her.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yericho, where she enjoys spending time with her family.