Ex-con Ahed Tamimi, jailed for assaulting an Israeli soldier, says Palestinians “should always be slapping soldiers.”
By Joseph Wolkin
Ahed Tamimi, who rose to fame after serving an eight-month sentence in an Israeli prison for her attack on an IDF soldier, told a Tunisian reporter she wants all Palestinians to follow her lead, and is willing to sacrifice her life and become a martyr.
“We should all be slapping soldiers, not just me,” she told Tunisia’s Musaique FM Radio in an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “We should always be slapping soldiers, wherever they may be, regardless of whether they did anything or not.”
She added, “This is a natural reaction to the presence of the occupation, to the presence of soldiers on my land. Everybody should be slapping soldiers.”
In addition to slapping a soldier during the incident that landed her in prison, Tamimi also shoved the young Israeli. Provocations such as these are routine in her village of Nabi Saleh in Judea and Samaria, a hotbed of anti-Israel activity.
After her release from prison three months ago, Tamimi embarked on a tour across Europe and the Middle East.
Tamimi said she wants “to continue on the path of the martyrs, so that their blood will not have been shed in vain. We shall always continue on their path. I have pledged to continue to make sacrifices, even sacrificing my life, for the sake of liberating Palestine.”
In late August, Tamimi thanked the leader of Hezbollah terror group, Hassan Nasrallah, for his support.
The extended Tamimi clan has a lengthy record of criminal activity and terror support.
Ahed’s cousin, Ahlam Tamimi, was a member of the terrorist cell that carried out the August 2001 bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, killing 15 people.
Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, has been arrested several times for rioting and inciting children to commit acts of terror. Israel recently banned him from traveling abroad.
Her cousin, 21-year-old Izzeddin Tamimi, was killed in June after attempting to attack an IDF soldier during a riot in Ramallah.