Latest news with #Rabee
Arab News
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Family of Palestinian-American teen killed by Israeli troops seeks justice, US govt response
CHICAGO: The family of Palestinian-American Amer Rabee, 14, who was killed on April 6 by Israeli soldiers while picking almonds near his home in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayyah, is seeking justice and a response from the US government, his uncle Rami Jbara said. The family has not heard 'a single word of remorse or concern' from the US government, Jbara, who lives in the state of New Jersey, told Arab News. He said Rabee was shot dead while with two other Palestinian-American boys, Ayoub Assad and Abdul Rahman Shehadeh. 'The US will move its army for any American citizen in the whole world except in Israel,' he added. 'These kids … were unarmed. They had no weapons on them. They're 13 and 14 years old.' Jbara said his nephew was shot 'all over — his head, his shoulders, his stomach, his legs,' adding that Rabee was in the West Bank studying at the local high school, living with his parents who had moved back there from New Jersey. Jbara said Rabee's father protested to the US Embassy in Jerusalem, adding that this was not the first incident with soldiers or settlers from the settlement of Shiloh just north of Turmus Ayyah. Settlers have been harassing the town's residents for years, but the harassment has increased in the past year with 'no response' from Israel's government, police or military, he added. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, representing New Jersey, said Rabee's death 'is another devastating reminder of the horrific human cost of ongoing conflict and tensions in the region. 'There must be a full and transparent accounting of the circumstances around his death and the actions of Israeli security forces.' Booker added: 'I call on the Trump administration to reinstate sanctions on perpetrators of such violence, which directly threatens the objectives of protecting innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians and preventing the war in Gaza and tensions in the West Bank from escalating into a wider regional conflict.' Palestinians at the Palestinian American Community Center in the city of Clifton, New Jersey, told Arab News that they are meeting to determine how to raise the issue of Rabee's killing with the US government and to raise awareness of Israeli violence.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian American Teen In Occupied West Bank
Israeli forces shot three Palestinian American teenagers in the occupied West Bank on Sunday ― killing one of them in what is the latest incident of the military targeting U.S. citizens, usually without consequence. A group of children were protesting an Israeli raid at the village of Turmus Ayya when Israeli soldiers opened fire on them, hitting three teenage boys who are U.S. citizens, according to local media and the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Two 15-year-old Palestinian American boys, Ayoub Jabara and Abdulrahman Shihada, were rushed to a hospital to get treatment for their wounds, according to the village's mayor Adeeb Lafi. But Israeli soldiers detained the third, 14-year-old Amer Mohammad Saada Rabee, before paramedics could get him help. Israeli troops shot Rabee 11 times, according to the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC). The New Jersey teen was pronounced dead in custody. Video on the ground shows Rabee's mother kissing her son's lifeless body during his funeral in Ramallah on Monday. PACC, based in New Jersey, held a prayer service in honor of the boy, whose death the group said was 'entirely preventable and horrifically unjust.' 'Amer was killed for speaking out at a time when the U.S. and Israel are doing everything they can to crush dissent, but we will not be silenced,' Illinois state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, a fellow Palestinian American whose family is also from Turmus Ayya, told HuffPost on Tuesday. The Democrat said he's spoken to some of Rabee's relatives in Chicago, who are 'understandably heartbroken.' The Israel Defense Force has confirmed the attack, justifying the shooting by saying the teens ― only referred to as 'terrorists' ― were 'endangering civilians' by throwing rocks at the highway. 'By labeling children who throw stones as 'terrorists,' Israel entrenches a fabricated system above international law, violating its fundamental rules and principles, fabricating pretexts for killing, and entrenching its policy of institutionalised, systematic and unlawful violence and persecution against Palestinians,' Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor posted on X. 'The killing of children is not self-defense. Stone-throwing is not terrorism,' the Geneva-based rights group continued. 'What Israel is committing is fully-fledged apartheid violence and relentless settler-colonial violence – ongoing, and met with impunity.' Rabee is the latest American to be killed by Israeli forces, an all-too-frequent occurrence that almost never resulted in consequences under the Biden administration. An Israeli airstrike killed Michigan-based Dr. Kamel Ahmad Jawad in October while he was helping injured civilians in Lebanon. An Israeli sniper killed Turkish American student Ayşenur Eygi in September for protesting the occupation in the West Bank. An off-duty Israeli soldier killed Palestinian American teen Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar in January while he was visiting family in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers beat and detained Palestinian American Omar Assad while he was driving home in the West Bank in January 2022, eventually dying of a heart attack after they left the elderly man in the cold still handcuffed. An Israeli sniper killed high-profile Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022, while she was covering Israeli raids on the West Bank city of Jenin. An Israeli soldier ran a military bulldozer over American activist Rachel Corrie in March 2003, killing her while she was protesting the occupation in Gaza. Despite repeated calls for accountability from both Israel and the U.S., the Justice Department has never pursued prosecution in these cases. The White House, regardless of who occupies it, has nearly always deferred to the Israeli military's self-investigations, which when announced have rarely led to consequences. The IDF did not answer HuffPost's repeated questions as to whether there would be an independent investigation in Rabee's death, nor if there were any consequences that came out of the investigation into Eygi's death. 'We know the frustration of hearing Israel scrambling to falsely justify the targeting and killing of a loved one, as if anything justifies the killing of this child,' Eygi's family said in a statement on Monday. 'We remember our rage seeing the unwillingness of our government to seek justice for the killing of one of its own citizens, despite our repeated calls for accountability.' 'If Ayşenur's killing had been investigated and those responsible had been held accountable, maybe [Amer] would be alive today,' the family continued. 'The impunity afforded to Israel by the United States, as well as its allowance on billions of dollars in weapons sales to Israel, allows Israel to continue its killing of American citizens.' The Trump administration is now facing calls to reinstate sanctions on violent settlers and to investigate Rabee's killing, including by both New Jerseysenators and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce would not answer reporters' questions about a possible investigation, only sending condolences to the teenagers' families. 'We are not calling for special treatment – only equal protection under the law for all Americans, regardless of their ethnic or religious identity,' CAIR said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi. 'When Americans are murdered abroad, especially by actors from a U.S.-funded foreign military like Israel, our government has an obligation to respond with the full force of U.S. law. Failure to do so perpetuates injustice and undermines the principle that every American life matters.' The Sunday shooting is also part of a spike in violence against Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including a larger offensive in the northern region that has killed at least 99 people and displaced tens of thousands, according to the United Nations. While Palestinians in the West Bank continue to face such threats, Israeli forces have kept up their 18-month destruction of Gaza, where UN officials say children have bore the brunt of the violence and displacement. 'We know that [Amer's] killing, like Ayşenur's, has only garnered attention in America because he was a US citizen, and we also know there are thousands of other [Amer's] and Ayşenur's killed by Israel whose stories have not been told, simply because of where they were born,' Eygi's family said. 'Israel must not only be held accountable for the killing of [Amer] and Ayşenur, but also for its continued genocide of the Palestinian people.'
New York Times
08-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Death of Palestinian American Boy in West Bank Sparks Outcry
Members of northern New Jersey's Palestinian community gathered on Tuesday to condemn the recent killing of a Palestinian American boy by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The boy, Amer Rabee, 14, was shot and killed in the town of Turmus Aya on Sunday, his family said. Two other Palestinian American teenagers who were with Amer at the time were shot and injured by the soldiers, the family said. Amer, who was originally from Saddle Brook, N.J., moved with his family to the West Bank around 2013. The family said that since then, it had divided its time between the West Bank and New Jersey. At a news conference on Tuesday, community leaders stood at a small wooden lectern at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, N.J., to decry Amer's death and call on the U.S. government to investigate the shooting. They were joined by Rami Jbara, an uncle of Amer's, and by Amer's father, Mohammed Rabee, who called in remotely from the West Bank. 'We cannot let this horrific crime be swept under the rug,' said Rania Mustafa, the center's executive director. 'Our stories are consistently ignored,' she added. 'Our people are consistently dehumanized. Our deaths are repeatedly ignored.' The outcry over Amer's death comes weeks after Israel launched a series of attacks on Gaza, breaking a cease-fire agreement in its war against Hamas. Just over 900 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank since Hamas's attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations. Roughly 30 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank during the same period. When asked Tuesday about Amer's death, the Israel Defense Forces did not acknowledge the boy by name. 'During a counterterrorism activity in the area of Turmus Aya, I.D.F. soldiers identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving,' a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement. 'The soldiers opened fire toward the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists.' At the news conference, Mr. Rabee, 49, recounted the events surrounding his son's death. He said he had been at home taking a nap on Sunday when Amer left to pick almonds. Mr. Rabee said he later woke to a phone call in which he learned that his son had been wounded. Mr. Rabee said he had called the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem seeking medical help, but that the aid did not arrive in time. He said he learned an hour later that his son was dead and that his body had been taken to an Israeli military camp. It was there, several hours later, that he found his son's body in a bag, Mr. Rabee said. Ayoub Ijbara, one of the teenagers with Amer on Sunday, was shot three times, but managed to flee and find help, according a statement from the community center, whose members spoke to Ayoub's family. Surveillance footage showed that the soldiers fired 47 shots at the three boys while they were picking almonds, according to the statement. 'Amer was shot in the chest and fell backward to the ground,' the statement said. 'The other two boys went to help him, but too many shots were fired and so they began to retreat.' Ayoub, 15, had a six-hour surgery on Monday and is scheduled to have another procedure on Wednesday, according to the statement. The boy was born in Little Ferry, N.J., the community center said, and moved to Tennessee before he and his family relocated to Turmus Aya. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey called Amer's death an 'atrocity' in an X post on Monday. The state's governor, Philip D. Murphy, demanded in a statement that the Israeli government provide answers about why Amer had been killed, lamenting the 'tragic loss of life.' The Israel Defense Forces sent a black-and-white video with its statement on Tuesday that it said showed Amer and the two other teenagers throwing rocks. Mr. Rabee said he had seen the video and that there was no way to tell if Amer was one of the three people. Even if he was, Mr. Rabee said, Amer did not deserve to die. 'This land is called holy land,' Mr. Rabee said. 'There's supposed to be peace in this land, not war.'
CBS News
08-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Family of Palestinian American teen shot by Israeli forces in West Bank calls for justice
Family members of a Palestinian American teenager killed in the West Bank spoke out Tuesday in New Jersey. Amer Rabee, a 14-year-old United States citizen who grew up in Saddle Brook, was shot and killed Sunday by Israeli forces. His family moved to Turmus Ayya, in the central West Bank, in 2013. Amer's uncle, Rami Jbara, spoke at Clifton's Palestinian American Community Center, while Amer's father spoke virtually from the West Bank. "What was done was murder," Jbara said. "A killing of a child." "He had 11 shots. Two in his stomach, one in his leg, and two to his hand and two in his heart," father Mohammed Rabee said. Rabee described his son as a straight A eighth grader who loved being with his friends. "He got many friends here in Turmus Ayya, and everyone is crying here," he said. The Israeli military released a video allegedly showing the shooting. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that IDF soldiers had "identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving. The soldiers opened fire towards the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists." "The video is black and white. It's not clear. No one can tell me that is my son," Rabee said. "Even if he did it, you can do many different ways to stop that," Rabee said. The family says they picked out the sound of more than 40 gunshots in security camera audio of the incident, saying the two other teens injured are also Palestinian Americans. Tammy Bruce, with the State Department, said, "There is an investigation that is going on. We are aware of the reports from the IDF that this was a counterterrorism act. We need to learn more about the nature of what happened on the ground." "I would beg the Israeli authorities to be as transparent as they can be in terms of the details on how this happened," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. Rabee father says the one thing he and his family are praying for is peace in the region.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘It was a field execution': Family mourns after Israel fatally shoots 14-year-old American Amer Rabee in West Bank
Hundreds of mourners assembled in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya on Monday for the funeral of Amer Rabee, a 14-year-old U.S. citizen who Israeli forces fatally shot the previous day. Rabee, a former resident of Saddle Brook, New Jersey, was shot numerous times while out picking green almonds with two friends, according to his family. Rabee's father, Mohammed, accused the Trump administration of turning a 'blind eye' to the killing, even as the president met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. "It was a field execution," he told CBS News. "We have to … send a message for President Trump to at least stop this situation," he added. "Stop sending weapons to kill." The Israeli government said in a statement it shot three 'terrorists' who were throwing rocks at a highway, putting civilians at risk. The Israeli military released a video of the incident. The grainy black-and-white footage shows three individuals, one of whom appears to throw something, though it's not possible to identify the figures in the footage. במהלך פעילות מבצעית של לוחמים מיחידה 636 במרחב תורמוסעייא שבחטיבת שומרון, הכוח זיהה שלושה מחבלים אשר יידו סלעים לעבר כביש מהיר עם רכבים אזרחיים. הלוחמים ירו לעבר המחבלים שהיוו סכנה על האזרחים, חיסלו אחד מהם ופגעו בשני המחבלים הנוספים. כוחות צה״ל ימשיכו לפעול בהגנה ובהתקפה… — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 6, 2025 Another American citizen, Ayoub Jabara, 15, was wounded in the shooting and rushed to a hospital in Ramallah, Turmus Ayya mayor Lafi Shalabi told The Washington Post. 'This is an atrocity,' Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey wrote in a statement on X. 'How can the Israeli military possibly justify shooting and killing an American teenager in cold blood? The U.S. must step in and stop this madness.' The State Department has declined to comment on the shooting at this time, citing family privacy, it told CNN. The Independent has contacted the White House for comment. It does not appear Trump and Netanyahu publicly discussed the shooting of the Palestinian-American boy. The killing follows the deaths of other Americans in the midst of the conflict, including Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, who was killed last January, and Mohammad Ahmad Alkhdour, who was killed the following month. Israeli police have said that an Israeli soldier and a settler were involved in a 'firearm discharge' near where Jabbar died. An eyewitness claimed someone shot Alkhdour from a military road, but officials of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said no soldiers were present. Last September, Israeli forces shot and killed Aysenur Eygi, a Turkish-American activist who was in the West Bank to protest Israel's ongoing military presence and the continued expansion of Jewish settlements, which many observers argue are illegal under international law. The IDF said at the time of Eygi's death that an initial investigation showed it was 'very likely' she was shot in the head 'unintentionally' during 'a violent riot.' The Washington Post subsequently reported she was shot more than 30 minutes after a large protest had occurred and activists moved more than 200 yards away from Israeli forces. As The Independent has reported, some Palestinian-Americans have felt 'abandoned' by the U.S. in the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict, including U.S. citizens who were stranded in southern Gaza as Israel's U.S.-supplied military destroyed large parts of the city of Rafah. Amid attempts to reach a durable ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the IDF has pursued an offensive in the occupied West Bank, including sending in tanks for the first time in decades. The fighting has displaced thousands of Palestinians. Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. is 'looking at another ceasefire' after Israel broke a previous agreement by striking Hamas. Trump has taken action to deport student and faculty activists expressing support for Palestine or participating in pro-Gaza protests at American universities.
