Tariq Khderthe, his 15 year old Palestinian-American cousin from Tampa, who was visiting the family in Gaza along with his mother, was picked up by Israeli police for protesting his cousin's murder. Though unarmed, Tarik was brutally beaten by the police -- a video went viral -- and then held in custody for four days before being released without any charges. These pictures are of Tariq before and after the beating.
Last week he was back in the U.S., still showing facial bruises from the police beating. Tariq and his mother were interviewed on MSNBC. I was impressed by the mother's calm but forceful challenge to the media covering this situation in Gaza. She emphasized that what happened to her son is not so unusual; it happens all the time to Palestinian youth -- but it does not get reported in the Israeli and U.S. media in the same way that injuries to Israelis make the news.
This was part of a larger challenge, suggesting that not only does Israel have overwhelming advantages in resources, viable economy, military power, and control of borders of Gaza -- they also have a huge public relations advantage.
I would add that in the United States, Israel also has a huge political advantage. In addition to the enduring sympathy based on Jewish history and the horrors of Holocaust, there are the powerful lobbying and fund-raising activities of groups like the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
More about this in another post on AIPAC.
This tragic story of the teens in Gaza reminds me of the plight of black and brown teens in our own country. Automatically suspect, like Treyvon Martin walking home from the convenience store to his father's condo, armed only with a bag of snacks and a soda, when he encountered the armed and trigger-happy George Zimmerman. We all know which one ended up dead. The minority-teen's disadvantage did not end there. Neither in the initial police handling of the case, nor subsequently in the court trial, did the black teen get treated the same as a white teen would have.
My point? Ethnic equality is a distant mirage, both at home and around the world. Historically, Jews have certainly had their share of the disadvantages of being an outsider group (one need not even say the whole word; just start to say "Holo----.") But isn't that all the more reason that we might expect Israel to be compassionate? They've experienced the ostracism and cruelty?
Well, no. Think about the psychology of abuse. Those who are abused often grow up to be abusers. Think about it. That's what the white people of South Africa so feared when apartheid was over-turned. Nelson Mandela was that unique individual who did not follow the pattern of abuse engendering an abuser, and he led his nation through a difficult period of accommodation.
Alas, there seems to be no Nelson Mandela on the scene today.
Ralph
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