Marc Henry, Palestine Monitor – Ahed Tamimi and her family have been banned from travelling abroad, according to the teen activist’s father.
The 17-year old activist was released from Israeli prison in July, after serving an eight-month sentence for slapping two Israeli soldiers. The incident was captured on film and made her an icon among Palestinians and their supporters.
After her release from prison, the Tamimi family planned to travel to Europe in order to participate in events, speaking about Palestinian resistance and Ahed’s experience of Israeli prison.
While the family were due to leave Friday morning, September 7, the father of the teen activist, Basim Al-Tamimi, told Anadolu Agency that Palestinian Authorities had informed the family that Israel banned them from travelling abroad.
According to the Al-Tamimi family, no reason was given for the ban.
According to Iranian-state Press TV, Ahed’s father was told Israel barred his daughter’s trip for fear she would foil Israel’s “schemes for the disintegration of the region by forging close relations with the enemies of Israel.”
Basim Al-Tamimi added that the ban comes as a result of Ahed Tamimi becoming “a global ambassador for humanity,” and that “Israel is afraid of the sympathy and unity among its opponents.”
Ahed Tamimi was meant to visit ManiFiesta, a solidarity festival in the Netherlands last Saturday and Sunday.
While the Palestinian activist was not allowed the leave Palestine, the Dutch sociologist and author Per Mertens delivered a solidarity message for Tamini during the festival.
“Dear Ahed, can you hear ManiFiesta? We share your dreams, the dreams of your family and the dreams of all the Palestinians: the end of the occupation of Palestine. Long live solidarity,” Per Mertens said live at the festival.
The Tamimi family has long been a thorn in the side of Israel, which is why Israeli forces often have arrested members of the family for their opposition to Israel’s invasion of Palestinian lands.
While both her parents and brothers have been arrested, Israeli forces shot dead Ahed Tamini’s uncle, Rushdie el-Tamimi in Nabi Saleh in 2012.
Her aunt Bassima al-Tamimi was beaten to death by an Israeli policeman in 1993 while attending her son’s trial session at the time.
Earlier this year, MK Michael Oren conducted a secret parliamentary investigation into the Tamimi family, as he suspected them to be not ‘real’ Palestinians.
According to Ynet, the MK believed that the children of the Tamimi family’s ‘blond hair, freckles and Western clothes’ was a “very sophisticated operation” that had succeeded in manipulating the Western press.