Today we talk about the plight of Palestinian children who, on a daily basis, are abused by the Israeli military and the Israeli military court system. Increasingly, stories of the midnight arrests of children, such as Ahed Tamimi, and the stories of their detentions are being published by the western media.
The issue has become so visible and extreme that a bill, HR 4391 Promoting Human Rights By Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act has been introduced into the US House of Representatives by Rep. Betty McCollum of MN, and so far there have been 19 Members of Congress sign on as a co-sponsor, but only one from Massachusetts, Rep. Jim McGovern. The bill states: Given that the Israeli Government receives billions of dollars in assistance from the United States, Congress must work to ensure that American taxpayer dollars never support Israelâs military detention or abuse of Palestinian children. The legislation requires that the Secretary of State certify that American funds do not support Israelâs military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children.
No member of Congress with any concern for children or justice, or just plain human decency, who sees what is going on with these kids, should have any problem signing on as co-sponsor of this legislationâ¦it really should not be a controversial bill, yet only one Massachusetts Congressman, Rep. McGovern has signed on, not Rep. Clark, nor Capuano, Keating, Tsongas, Kennedy, Lynch, Moulton, or Neal, none. Yet all of them present themselves as great civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights advocates, and supporters of childrenâs rights.
What happens to these children who get arrested and detained by the Israeli soldiers? How are they treated, what do they go through? That is what you are about to find out. Our feature presentation is a recording of a conversation with Ivan Karakashian, who works with Defense for Children International Palestine. He met with a group from the Boston area who were visiting Palestine through the GRALTA Foundation. Here is that conversation.
This Week In Palestine (a weekly 8am feature of Truth and Justice Radio (TJR)) is an award-winning 45-minute (or more) segment of news from Palestine and discussion of issues relevant to the Palestinians' struggle for freedom from Israel's brutal military occupation and colonization of their homeland. It speaks from the point of view of Palestinians and those who care about them. TJR is aired Sundays 6-10am ET on WZBC 90.3FM, Newton, MA, also streamed live and archived for two weeks at wzbc.org; TJR's modest website, truthandjusticeradio.org, has a link to This Week In Palestine archives back thru 1-6-2008; editions are also accessible at radio4all.net or by navigating through our playlists. TJR sometimes airs Palestine coverage IN ADDITION to that provided by This Week In Palestine. We hope you'll write to us at tjradio@fastmail.com if you rebroadcast our work, or have questions or comments.
This Week In Palestine 1-21-2018
A bill in Congress to end US support for Israeli abuse of Palestinian children
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