Dr. Saeb Erekat on Netanyahu’s Comments regarding Palestinian Children

4 August 2016

Dr. Saeb Erekat on Netanyahu’s Comments regarding Palestinian Children

The Israeli Prime Minister's denial of Palestinian rights and humanity is morally and ethically outrageous. Once again, Israel and its propaganda machine attempt to defend its prolonged and belligerent occupation of Palestine. Through seconds in a video, Netanyahu justifies the racist narrative that Palestinians are to blame, rather than Israel’s military machine and armed settlers that exercise violence and oppression against the land and people of Palestine.

This event took place in Nil’in, a village severely affected by Israeli colonization policies, including the Annexation Wall and Settlements. The few seconds  shown by Mr. Netanyahu omit a large portion of the physical and psychological attacks that Mr. Ayoub Sroor (45 years-old), who is the father of Jihad (18 years-old), Mamdouh (17), Issa (16), Bara'a (10) and Mohammad (3), has been subjected to for years by armed Israeli soldiers, a situation that brought him to seek psychiatric treatment (see more details below). 

Our position remains firm and clear with regards to not involving children in demonstrations, wherein the Israeli occupation army indiscriminately shoot at Palestinians with its huge arsenal of arms. 

Mr. Sroor’s helpless reaction shows the desperation a life under occupation creates. Netanyahu and his extremist government are the ones responsible for killing the hope in the minds and hearts of millions of Palestinians. His public relations tactics won’t change the reality of the daily theft of land and natural resources, the oppression and humiliation that our children suffer on a daily basis, nor will it make us forget that 578 Palestinian children killed in Gaza during the summer of 2014.

Blaming the Palestinians, and pretending to care about our children, is not only cheap but disingenuous coming from the same government that continues to use every opportunity to violate the rights of Palestinian children, including their fundamental right to a dignified life. 

Only yesterday the Israeli Parliament approved a law that would allow the Occupation to imprison Palestinian children below the age of 14. Currently, there are over 400 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons. 

If Mr. Netanyahu truly cares about the future of Palestinian children, he should adopt a culture of peace and justice, rather than his current political program of occupation, colonization, and apartheid.

We will continue to seek justice and peace through international legal mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, to hold Israel accountable for the crimes it commits against the Palestinian people, including those committed against our children.

More Information/ Video Links:

NEW: The Testimony of Ayoub Sroor: Response to Benjamin Netanyahu, 4 August 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIepSmWQYdI

Video showing a previous physical assault by the Israeli Occupation Forces against Mr. Ayoub Sroor, posted in February 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnASM8yzHpQ