US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has called on America to stop enabling the killing of Palestinian children by Israel. Her call follows the killing of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy by the Israeli army on Friday.
Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress. She condemned the killing of Mohammed Da‘adas, a resident of the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
Da’adas was shot in the stomach by Israeli soldiers during a protest against illegal Jewish settlements after last Friday’s midday prayer in Deir Al-Hatab. When she retweeted a post about the killing of the boy, Tlaib commented, “Our country must stop enabling the killing of children.”
Meanwhile, the American women’s grassroots movement Codepink tweeted: “13-year-old Mohammad Da’das [sic] was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank today, bringing the toll of Palestinian children murdered by Israel to at least 80.”
The group added: “Palestinian human rights organisations that seek justice for murdered or imprisoned children are being labeled ‘terrorist groups’ by the Israeli government. The gall is absolutely sickening.”
According to reports of official figures, Israel has killed more than 3,000 Palestinian children over the past 20 years. That’s an average of one child killed by Israeli forces every three days for at least two decades.
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