Nabi Saleh, the media and a Tamimi child's journey - by Arnold Roth

As to "butchered childhoods", we happen to know something about how that works. Our daughter Malki, who never thrust a fist into the face of anyone at all let alone a soldier, was fifteen when she became an unwilling participant in the explosive moment which the Tamimi clan celebrate yearly with such huge enthusiasm. Malki's picture stands for the absolute opposite of what the Tamimi propaganda machine is marketing. It's tragic how many people fail to understand that simple truth.

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
24 December '17..

A depressingly large number of people posting in various social media channels are hammering away right now at a campaign that tries to characterize the Palestinian Arab teen Ahed Tamimi as a victim of Israeli oppression, a human rights activist and a freedom fighter.

She's the young woman many call Shirley Temper, a photogenic performer who for at least eight years now has been the central figure in a long-running propaganda performance orchestrated by her father Bassem Tamimi and his publicity business, Tamimi Press.

What others say about this is very much on our minds. What Bassem Tamimi himself says is a matter of record. Child abuse? Manipulation? Ha! The ugly child abuse in which he and his village engage chronically is dismissed in masterful fashion: "Our children are doing their duty and must be strong."

We keep running into people who think they know the story of the Tamimi clan. But it's clear to us that few understand the rich and ugly detail of their hatefulness, expressed not as mere protest and words but the kind of physical violence that has ended dozens of lives on the Tamimi side and among their many victims.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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