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Israeli forces said they killed a ‘terrorist.' He was 14 years old.

Israeli forces said they killed a ‘terrorist.' He was 14 years old.

Boston Globe27-05-2025

The Israeli military has accused Amer and two of his friends of hurling rocks toward the highway and endangering civilians. It described the boys as 'terrorists,' and said its soldiers had 'eliminated' one and shot the two others.
Amer's family and one of the surviving boys deny the accusation, saying they were picking almonds. Amer was shot multiple times in his upper body, according to photographs his family shared with The New York Times.
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Amer's killing has added to accusations that the Israeli military uses excessive force and operates with impunity. It came amid a sharp spike in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been carrying out raids and tightening control in the most sweeping crackdown on militancy there in a generation. Rampages by extremist settlers against Palestinians have also increased recently.
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Amer's death has also raised questions about the US response to helping its own citizens. Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker of New Jersey have called for a US-led investigation into Amer's death, but the Trump administration has remained largely noncommittal.
Last month, the State Department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, said at a press briefing the Israeli military believed it was stopping an act of terrorism. 'We need to learn more about the nature of what happened on the ground,' she added. American officials did not respond to a request for further information.
More than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, mostly by the Israeli military and some by settlers, since the Hamas-led offensive against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations. Roughly 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank during that period.
From 2018 to 2022, less than one-third of complaints that soldiers had harmed Palestinians in the West Bank resulted in an investigation, according to a recent report by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization. Only a fraction have led to legal action.
A Hail of Gunfire
The three young boys had gone out to pick green almonds, a seasonal delicacy, in a terraced orchard between Turmus Aya and Route 60, a busy north-south artery linking a patchwork of Palestinian towns and Jewish settlements, one of the friends, Ayoub Jabara, 14, told the Times at his home in Turmus Aya.
He denied that they had thrown stones, saying that they had merely been throwing dried almonds at each other. Ayoub, who is also a Palestinian American, described reaching a point very close to the main road, and finding a tree with dried-up nuts. 'Amer picked one up and was joking that it was like a stone and threw it at me. I threw it back,' he said.
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Amer was shot at least 11 times, according to his father, Mohammed Rabee. Photographs taken on the cellphone of a family friend who accompanied Rabee when they picked up Amer's body appeared to show several entry wounds, including one in the center of his forehead and others in his neck and upper torso.
Hours after the shooting, the Israeli military issued a 10-second clip of blurry footage without a time stamp that shows three unidentifiable figures appearing to gather things from the ground. One of the figures appears to fling something in a downward motion, though no object is visible. The video cuts out as all three appear to turn and run.
The military said that its footage was filmed from a military post and that the soldiers were lying in ambush in what they described as a counterterrorism operation in the area.
Four days after Amer died, reporters for the Times searched the ridge where he was killed for any signs of the shooting and came across the clothes.
Garments that appeared to have been cut off by soldiers and blue surgical gloves were scattered around a bloodstained rock. The military said it was standard procedure to remove clothes to ensure the body was not booby-trapped. The clothes were later identified by the family as Amer's, when the reporters returned them to the family at their home.
Even if the boys did throw stones, Mohammed Rabee said, the soldiers could have fired warning shots to scare them away, or could have chased and detained them. 'He was 14 years old,' he said. 'It takes no special training to catch a little kid.'
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Instead, the soldiers fired a barrage of bullets at him. His family believes they wanted to kill him. The military declined to confirm or deny that it has a shoot-to-kill policy for stone throwers.
Ayoub, Amer's friend, suffered 'multiple gunshot wounds,' according to medical records from the Istishari Arab hospital in nearby Ramallah, where he spent three days in the intensive care unit. Both Dr. Mohammad Qneibi, a physician at a local clinic where Ayoub was first taken, and Ayoub's father, Ahed Jabara, told the Times that the boy was shot at least three times in the groin area.
The family of the third boy, Abdulrahman Shihada, 15, declined to be interviewed.

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The White House Is Delighted With Events in Los Angeles
The White House Is Delighted With Events in Los Angeles

Atlantic

time28 minutes ago

  • Atlantic

The White House Is Delighted With Events in Los Angeles

The last time President Donald Trump tried to send military forces into American streets to put down civil unrest, in June 2020, Pete Hegseth was positioned outside the White House with a Kevlar helmet and riot shield. Major Hegseth's mobilization as part of a District of Columbia National Guard unit summoned to restore order in the nation's capital, where protests had erupted following the police murder of George Floyd, occurred as Pentagon leaders scrambled to avert what they feared could be a confrontation between active-duty U.S. forces and their fellow Americans. Today, Hegseth is second only to the president in directing the administration's use of the National Guard and active-duty Marines to respond to unrest over immigration raids in Los Angeles. And this time, the military's civilian leadership isn't acting as a brake on Trump's impulse to escalate the confrontation. The Hegseth-led Pentagon is an accelerant. The administration's decision to federalize 4,000 California National Guard forces, contrary to Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes, and to dispatch 700 active-duty Marines to the Los Angeles area, marks a break with decades of tradition under which presidents have limited their use of the military on American soil. If there are any internal misgivings about busting through yet another democratic norm, they haven't surfaced publicly. Indeed, officials at the White House told us they are satisfied with the way the L.A. confrontation has unfolded. They believe that it highlights their focus on immigration and law and order, and places Democrats on the wrong side of both. One widely circulated photo—showing a masked protester standing in front of a burning car, waving a Mexican flag—has been embraced by Trump supporters as a distillation of the conflict: a president unafraid to use force to defend an American city from those he deems foreign invaders. 'We couldn't have scripted this better,' said a senior White House aide granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. 'It's like the 2024 election never ended: Trump is strong while Democrats are weak and defending the indefensible.' Democrats, of course, take a different view, and say the administration's actions have only risked triggering further violence. Retired officers who study how the armed forces have been used in democracies told us they share those concerns. They point to the damage that Trump's orders could do to the military's relationship with the citizens it serves. 'We should be very careful, cautious, and even reluctant to use the military inside our country,' Bradley Bowman, a former Army officer who heads the defense program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told us. Conor Friedersdorf: Averting a worst-case scenario in Los Angeles State and local authorities typically use law-enforcement personnel as a first response to civil disturbances or riots, followed by National Guard forces if needed. Retired Major General Randy Manner, who served as acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau during the Obama administration, said the federalizing of California Guard forces—putting them under presidential rather than state control, a move allowed with certain limits—pulls those service members away from their civilian jobs and makes it harder to complete planned training or exercises. 'Basically, the risk does not justify the investment of these forces, and it will negatively impact on readiness,' Manner told us. Retired officers we spoke with also drew a distinction between the involvement of National Guard and active-duty forces. Whereas National Guard troops assist citizens after natural disasters and have the advantage of knowing the communities they serve, active-duty forces are primarily trained to 'see the enemy and neutralize the enemy,' said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'When you're dealing with U.S. citizens, no matter what they're doing, that's not the right mindset.' 'This is not Fallujah,' Bowman added. 'This is Los Angeles.' Juliette Kayyem: Trump's gross misuse of the National Guard This morning, Hegseth made his first congressional appearance since his bruising confirmation process, appearing before a House committee. His tone with Democrats was at times combative. When Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, asked the defense secretary what the cost of the California deployment would be, he declined to provide a figure and instead pivoted to criticism of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for the state's response to the violence that followed Floyd's killing in 2020. (Military officials said later they expected the Los Angeles deployment, as envisioned, to cost roughly $134 million.) 'If you've got millions of illegals, you don't know where they're coming from, they're waving flags from foreign countries and assaulting police officers, that's a problem,' Hegseth told lawmakers. Trump, for his part, told reporters that anyone who tries to protest at the Saturday parade celebrating the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army will 'be met with very big force.' He also said that he wouldn't hesitate to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would permit him to employ the military for law enforcement or to suppress a rebellion, if he believed that circumstances required. Speaking to troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina later in the day, the president promised to stop the 'anarchy' in California. ' We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again,' he said. 'We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.' Some Republicans have privately expressed worry that Trump may overplay a winning hand. Even in the West Wing, two people we spoke with tried to downplay the incendiary rhetoric from Trump and Hegseth. They stressed that, to this point, National Guard forces have been in a defensive posture, protecting federal buildings. Although they believe that Trump has the political advantage at the moment, they acknowledged there would be real risks if U.S. troops got involved in violence. 'We don't know who would get blamed but no one wins if that happens,' one senior aide told us. 'No one wants to see that.' Hegseth's support for using active-duty troops in Los Angeles stands in contrast to what his predecessor did in 2020. At that time, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, scrambled to block Trump's desire to employ active-duty forces against the demonstrators protesting racial violence. The president had mused about shooting protesters in the legs, Esper wrote later. To satisfy his boss while also avoiding a dangerous confrontation, the defense chief called active-duty forces from Fort Bragg to Northern Virginia but sought to keep them out of the fray. Tom Nichols: Trump is using the National Guard as bait In his 2024 book The War on Warrior s, Hegseth described how his experience as a D.C. Guardsman in 2020 crystallized his views about the divide between military personnel and what he saw as the degenerate protesters who were lobbing bricks and bottles of urine at the citizen soldiers. When the D.C. Guard was again summoned seven months later, to help secure the 2021 inauguration following the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Hegseth was told to stand down because fellow Guardsmen suspected that one of his tattoos was a sign of extremism. (Hegseth has maintained it is part of his Christian faith.) Hegseth was angered by his exclusion and resigned from the Guard. That experience remains with him as he attempts to reshape the military, and its role in society, in line with Trump's worldview. As he has written: 'My trust for this Army is irrevocably broken.'

Arizona governor vetoes bill banning teaching antisemitism, calls it an attack on educators
Arizona governor vetoes bill banning teaching antisemitism, calls it an attack on educators

San Francisco Chronicle​

time42 minutes ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Arizona governor vetoes bill banning teaching antisemitism, calls it an attack on educators

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a proposal that would have banned teaching antisemitism at the state's public K-12 schools, universities and colleges and exposed educators who violate the new rules to discipline and lawsuits. The proposal would have prohibited teachers and administrators from teaching or promoting antisemitism or antisemitic actions that create a hostile environment, calling for the genocide of any group or requiring students to advocate for an antisemitic point of view. It also would have barred public schools from using public money to support the teaching of antisemitism. Hobbs, a Democrat, said Tuesday that the bill was not about antisemitism but rather about attacking teachers. 'It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college, and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits," she said in a statement. "Additionally, it sets a dangerous precedent that unfairly targets public school teachers while shielding private school staff." Hobbs described antisemitism as a very troubling issue in the U.S., but said students and parents can go through the state's Board of Education to report antisemitism. The measure cleared the Legislature last week on a 33-20 vote by the House, including a few Democrats who crossed party lines to support it. It's one of a few proposals to combat antisemitism across the country. Democrats tried but failed to remove the lawsuit provision and swap out references to antisemitism within the bill with 'unlawful discrimination' to reflect other discrimination. The bill's chief sponsor, Republican Rep. Michael Way, of Queen Creek, has said his proposal would create accountability when educators fail to protect students from the rise in antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Opponents said the bill aimed to silence people who want to speak out on the oppression of Palestinians and opened up educators to personal legal liability in lawsuits students could file. Students over the age of 18 and the parents of younger pupils would have been able to file lawsuits over violations that create a hostile education environment, leaving teachers responsible for paying any damages that may be awarded, denying them immunity and prohibiting the state from paying any judgments arising from any such lawsuits. Last week, Lori Shepherd, executive director of Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, wrote in a letter to Hobbs that if the bill were approved it would threaten teachers' ability to provide students with a full account of the holocaust. Under the bill, 'those discussions could be deemed 'antisemitic' depending on how a single phrase is interpreted, regardless of intent or context,' she said. The bill would have created a process for punishing those who break the rules. At K-12 schools, a first-offense violation would lead to a reprimand, a second offense to a suspension of a teacher or principal's certificate and a third offense to a revocation of the certificate. At colleges and universities, violators would have faced a reprimand on first offense, a suspension without pay for a second offense and termination for a third offense. The proposal also would have required colleges and universities to consider violations by employees to be a negative factor when making employment or tenure decisions. Under the proposal, universities and colleges couldn't recognize any student organization that invites a guest speaker who incites antisemitism, encourages its members to engage in antisemitism or calls for the genocide of any group. Elsewhere in the U.S., a Louisiana lawmaker is pushing a resolution that asks universities to adopt policies to combat antisemitism on campuses and collect data on antisemitism-related reports and complaints. And a Michigan lawmaker has proposed putting a definition of antisemitism into the state's civil rights law.

O.C. politicians denounce ICE raids as the National Guard deploys in Santa Ana
O.C. politicians denounce ICE raids as the National Guard deploys in Santa Ana

Los Angeles Times

timean hour ago

  • Los Angeles Times

O.C. politicians denounce ICE raids as the National Guard deploys in Santa Ana

Rep. Lou Correa assembled community leaders in front of his 46th District congressional office in Santa Ana to send a message following a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in the city that stoked fears, spread confusion and spurred angry downtown protests. 'We want to tell America who Santa Ana is [and] what this immigration issue is all about,' Correa, a Democrat, said during a Tuesday morning press conference. 'It's not us versus them. We are all part of the American fabric, part of the American community.' Correa flew to Washington, D.C. on Monday, but immediately boarded a flight back home once he learned of ICE raids carried out in Santa Ana as part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. By then, the Orange County Rapid Response Network, a coalition that monitors ICE activities, spread the word about immigration authorities arresting workers at locations like a Fountain Valley carwash and outside of a Home Depot in Santa Ana. Based on a Tuesday morning visit to an ICE detention facility in Santa Ana, Correa placed the number of immigrants in custody at 31 and described seeing a couple of detainees still wearing their painter overalls. He noted an accurate count is hard to pin down with multiple federal agencies involved in the enforcement actions. ICE did not respond to a TimesOC request for confirmation of the number of unauthorized immigrants arrested by press deadline. The Orange County sweeps followed ICE activity, raids and protests against them over the weekend in Los Angeles County as the Trump administration has since deployed the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to Southern California. Law enforcement agencies responding to downtown Los Angeles protests arrested 163 people through Monday. In response to news of O.C. immigration sweeps, activists gathered outside of the federal building in Santa Ana on Monday to protest. Federal agents shot pepper balls to disperse people who attempted to block vans from exiting the building. The protest swelled in numbers around Civic Center Plaza in downtown when the Santa Ana Police Department declared an unlawful assembly at about 8:30 p.m. Fireworks exploded near local and federal authorities. Some protesters also hurled rocks, bottles and other projectiles toward law enforcement. Officers shot pepper balls, tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds. Natalie Garcia, a spokesperson for the Santa Ana Police Department, confirmed that officers arrested 11 people Monday on suspicion of failure to disperse, assault on an officer and vandalism. In Sacramento Tuesday, the California Latino Legislative Caucus held a news conference where Assemblyman Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim) denounced the ICE raids, as the 68th District he represents includes Santa Ana. 'It really is heartbreaking to witness what is unfolding in our communities across our state,' he said. 'Let me be clear: President Trump is using these raids to intimidate our communities and instill fear.' 'This deportation tactic that the president is implementing is about demonstrating his ability to govern through brute force,' Valencia added. Other Santa Ana elected officials held another press conference in front of the Old Orange County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon. Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento recalled consoling a woman whose uncle was detained by immigration authorities at a Santa Ana Home Depot while seeking work. 'To the federal administration, we demand that you take your militarized equipment and troops and stop occupying our communities immediately,' he said. 'Yesterday, I personally witnessed the efforts of ICE officers clearly intending to escalate what was a lawful and peaceful demonstration.' In downtown Santa Ana, National Guard troops in beige camouflage with rifles slung on their shoulders blocked vehicle access along 4th Street near the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse on Tuesday morning. Correa told TimesOC that it's an 'irony' that National Guard troops are in Santa Ana when, on Jan. 6, 2021, they hadn't been deployed during the pro-Trump Capitol riot in Washington, D.C. as he took cover in the House chamber. Correa called for protests to be peaceful in the non-violent tradition of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the press conference while also deeming the ICE raids to be 'counterproductive.' 'If you've got serious, violent criminals in our community, come get them,' he said. 'But workers that are taking care of our seniors, feeding us, being part of the economic miracle that's called California, let's work on that. We need immigration reform.' Even before Monday's raids, federal agents arrested individuals after their ICE check-in appointments in Santa Ana on June 6. 'It's my understanding that in a lot of cases, they're going before a judge,' Correa told TimesOC. 'Authorities will, essentially, dismiss an order of deportation. [But] before they walk out, they're rearrested and put on an expedited order of deportation.' As the Trump administration deployed 700 active-duty Marines, some of them remain at the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach. They have not appeared in Santa Ana as of Tuesday evening. Correa told the press that his community does not need Marines. 'What are we coming to?' he said. 'This is not America.'

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