Conservative Members of the Scottish Parliament have signed an amendment seeking to clarify a parliamentary motion on 16-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested on 19th December after a video of her slapping Israeli soldiers went viral on social media.
The amendment states that the original motion employs an “uncritical promotion of the Ahed Tamimi case”, and notes the “lack of condemnation” for what it believes are “criminal acts” by Tamimi.
It notes that “it is widely unreported that after the assault, filmed by her mother Nariman on Facebook Live, Ahed Tamimi called on viewers to ‘unite to liberate Palestine’, stating that ‘whether it is stabbings or martyrdom operations or throwing stones, everyone must do his part and we must unite in order for our message to be heard that we want to liberate Palestine’.
The amendment states that it “understands that there has been a history of terrorism in the family with Tamimi’s aunt driving a suicide bomber to the Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001 where 15 people, including 7 children and a pregnant women, were killed; believes that Tamimi’s aunt has expressed pride in her role in this killing”.
It concludes by stating that it believes that “Israel is unfairly singled out for its treatment of juvenile offenders, despite wide ranging reforms, when the treatment of similar individuals in other Arab states would, it considers, be of a standard far removed from that of democratic Israel”.
The amendment was put forward by Ross Greer MSP and signed by Scottish MSPs Jackson Carlaw, Miles Briggs, Alexander Stewart, Peter Chapman, Bill Bowman, Liz Smith, Jeremy Balfour, Rachael Hamilton, Alison Harris, Murdo Fraser.
