People rallied in New York City on Friday to support the Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, who is imprisoned and facing 12 charges in an Israeli military court after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral. The 16-year-old girl slapped the soldier after Israeli troops shot Tamimi’s 14-year-old cousin in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet and fired tear gas canisters into her family’s home. Mondoweiss reports that the soldier actually slapped the 16-year-old girl first, causing her to slap back. In New York City, protesters rallied at Grand Central to demand Tamimi’s freedom.
Nerdeen Kiswani: “My name is Nerdeen Kiswani. I’m from New York City Students for Justice in Palestine. I’m here today protesting and demanding the release of Ahed Tamimi. Ahed embodies resistance. Ahed symbolizes what all Palestinians should be doing. And that’s why I’m here today, mostly, because I feel like we need to uplift these markers of resistance in our society, so we can continue to produce more of them.”