Subject: FW: US lawmaker wants Israel military aid halted over Palestinian deaths
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-lawmaker-wants-israel-military-aid-halted-over-palestinian-deaths/
US lawmaker wants Israel military aid halted over Palestinian deaths
Betty McCollum asks State Department to probe 'brutal system of occupation that devalues and dehumanizes Palestinian children'
By Tamar Pileggi
(Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.)
August 25, 2015
(Source: The Times of Israel)
A US congresswoman has asked the State Department to investigate whether the killing of two Palestinian teenagers by Israeli security forces last year would preclude Israel from receiving military aid under American law.
In a letter to the State Department officials last week, Minnesota representative Betty McCollum said the deaths of Nadeem Siam Nawara and Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh in May 2014 demonstrated the "brutal system of occupation that devalues and dehumanizes Palestinian children."
The two Palestinian youths, aged 16 and 17, were killed during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops outside the West Bank city of Ramallah during a May 2014 protest for Nakba Day, an annual commemoration of Palestinian displacement following the establishment of the State of Israel.
"It is time for a strong and unequivocal statement of US commitment to the human rights of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation," McCollum wrote in the August 18 letter, which was released to the public on Monday.
Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum
McCollum urged State Department officials to determine whether the killing of the teens was in violation of the Leahy Act, a US human rights law that prohibits the State and Defense departments from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.
In a surveillance video posted by the Palestine division of Defense for Children International, a global NGO, appears to show one teen being shot as he walked by a gas station after the clashes had subsided. The second Palestinian teen appears to have been shot shortly afterwards.
The IDF initially maintained that only nonlethal dispersal methods were used by troops during the Nakba Day demonstration. A senior Defense Ministry official also told The Times of Israel at the time that the video of the incident had likely been doctored.
An autopsy performed by Palestinian and Israeli pathologists in June, however, found that Nawara was almost certainly killed by live fire, most likely from an IDF weapon. An Israeli military investigation into the shooting, carried out following the autopsy, found that an Israeli border policeman had illegally used live ammunition during the protest.
A Jerusalem District Court indicted the 21-year-old border policeman in December on manslaughter charges.
The following members of Congress joined Rep. McCollum in signing the letter. A copy of the letter is attached below
McCollum Leads Letter to Secretary of State Kerry Putting Spotlight on Israeli Military Detention and Abuse of Palestinian Children
Jun 23, 2015
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) released a letter that she and 18 of her congressional colleagues sent to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the United States to prioritize the human rights of Palestinian children living in the Occupied West Bank in the bilateral relationship with the Government of Israel. The letter specifically addresses Israel's on-going military detention of Palestinian children in which they are arrested, interrogated, held incommunicado, and frequently physically abused. A 2013 report by UNICEF called "Children in Israeli Military Detention" (along with a subsequent 2015 report) highlights the fact that during the previous decade more than 7,000 Palestinian children ages 12 to 17 have been subject to military detention and abuse that violates international human rights standards.
Members of Congress signing the letter to Secretary Kerry indicated that while Israel's security interests are a national security priority of the United States, respecting and defending the rights of children is a fundamental American value that cannot be ignored.
"Israel's military detention of Palestinian children is an indefensible abuse of human rights. I hope this letter results in State Department pressure on the Government of Israel to end this systemic abuse immediately," said McCollum. "Palestinian children should be treated exactly the same as Israeli or American children, without the fear that one day soldiers will arrest them, beat them, and lock them away in prison."
The following members of Congress joined Rep. McCollum in signing the letter. A copy of the letter is attached. A copy of the UNICEF report "Children in Israeli Military Detention" can be found here.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
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