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July 17, 2014

Palestinian American Beaten by Israeli Forces Returns to U.S. 
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A Florida teenager whose beating by Israeli forces was caught on video
this month has returned to the United States. Tariq Abu Khdeir says he
was watching demonstrations in East Jerusalem when he was seized. The
video shows him lying on the ground as the officers repeatedly beat him
with batons. He was left with facial bruises and severely swollen eyes
and lips. Tariq was a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian
teen kidnapped and burned alive in an apparent revenge attack for the
killings of three teenage Israeli settlers. Moments after landing in
Tampa Wednesday night, Tariq urged supporters to remember his cousin and
the dozens of Palestinian children killed in the ongoing Israeli assault
on Gaza.

Tariq Abu Khdeir: "There is one main thing that I wanted to say, which
is that you only know my story because I am an American, but I hope you
will all also remember my cousin, a 16-year-old Palestinian named
Mohammed Abu Khdeir. … I want to ask you all to please remember my
cousin Mohammed and the 36 kids that died in Gaza over the past several
days. They have names like mine. I hope the violence will stop for their
sake. No child, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli, deserves to die
that way. I am so glad to be back home again."

 

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