WATCH: Palestinian Girl Arrested After Videotaped Scuffle With Israeli Soldiers Goes Viral
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian teenager who was filmed slapping and harassing Israeli soldiers in the West Bank was arrested.
Israeli security forces made the arrest overnight Monday. The girl, identified by Hebrew media as 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi, and two other girls were caught on camera Friday slapping and harassing the soldiers in an apparent attempt to provoke a violent response.
The army said the girl was arrested for taking part in violent riots in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday.
The girls filmed their confrontation of the soldiers with cellphones. However, the soldiers did not strike back in the video taken by another bystander, and only deflected the harder blows.
The army said a preliminary investigation into the incident showed the soldiers “acted professionally and were not dragged into violence.” It also said the soldiers could have arrested the girls at the time because they “used physical violence and prevented soldiers from carrying out their duties.”
Palestinians have often provoked highly publicized clashes with Israeli soldiers in Nabi Saleh, a village in the central West Bank.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO