Sarah Silverman calls for release of detained Palestinian girl

“Jews have to stand up EVEN when — ESPECIALLY when — the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government,” Silverman tweeted.

Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman (photo credit: REUTERS)
Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman
(photo credit: REUTERS)
NEW YORK - US comedian Sarah Silverman waded into the Arab-Israeli conflict on Thursday after publicizing her support on social media for a 17-year-old Palestinian girl currently detained by Israel security forces.
Silverman called on the Jewish community to demand that the Israeli government release Ahed Tamimi after she was arrested in mid-December for assaulting an IDF soldier.
“Jews have to stand up EVEN when — ESPECIALLY when — the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government,” Silverman tweeted Thursday.
The incident was caught on camera and posted online on December 15, where the clip quickly turned viral. The video shows Tamimi slapping and kicking the soldier near her West Bank home with little retaliation.

The video evoked polarized reactions, with much of the Israeli camp expressing outrage that Tamimi and her cousin were not arrested on the spot, and much of the Palestinian camp cheering her aggressive resistance of what they view as Israeli occupation.
Despite Tamimi’s willingness for a transparent and public trial, the Judea Military Court earlier this week ordered her case to be tried behind closed doors.
The court said it was standard procedure to hold trials involving minors, like Tamimi, out of public view in order to protect those involved who are not yet adults. Tamimi has remained in Israeli custody since her arrest on December 19.
Silverman, whose sister lives in Israel and is a member of the Women of the Wall movement, retweeted an email campaign launched by Amnesty International following Tamimi’s arrest.
Amnesty International has called for Tamimi’s immediate release and is urging its supporters to write to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and protest the teenager’s detention.

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“There is nothing Ahed Tamimi has done that can justify the continuing detention of a 17-year-old child,” Amnesty wrote in its electronic appeal.