Several weeks ago, I noted a book I was reading: They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri. (A Palestinian activist jailed at sixteen after a confrontation with Israeli soldiers illuminates the daily struggles of life under occupation in this moving, deeply personal memoir.) As mentioned, I highly recommend reading this for a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation.

We in the U.S. are shielded from the brutal truths of their lived experiences and so not everyone would, for instance, recognize the significance and hypocrisy of the Zionist adjunct professor at Columbia University who this past Monday could not fathom being prevented from going where he wanted to go, when he wanted to go. How dare they stop him?! Well, in the West Bank alone (which is where Ahed Tamimi and family live), there are hundreds of checkpoints, road blocks, and walls that prevent free movement. I read somewhere recently that workers must line up at some checkpoints at 3:00 a.m. in order to get to work on time. That entitled little professor wouldn’t last a week under those circumstances.

The occupation and apartheid are not only damaging to Palestinians, but also the Jewish population. Oppression is not good for anyone. This excerpt came in the final pages of They Called Me a Lioness:

We are seeing this loss of humanity and conscience in real time as Israeli soldiers post videos of themselves gleefully destroying Palestinian homes–ransacking clothing drawers and modeling lingerie, breaking toys, destroying food–and bulldozing warehouses of food and the last working bakery in a neighborhood. They are using drones that mimic the sounds of crying women and children in order to lure Palestinians from their camps in order to shoot them. Mass graves outside hospitals are being unearthed, with doctors in hospital gowns executed with their hands tied behind their backs, patients executed with catheters in them, and children executed while hands are tied. (Note: I don’t have the stomach to search for links to all these atrocities, but I assure you the info is available should you want to see it for yourself.)

Here is one more excerpt from Ahed Tamimi’s story:

I’d like to be able to report that Ahed Tamimi was able to freely continue her studies of international law after serving eight months in prison (as a 16-year-old!) for slapping an Israeli soldier who was raiding her village and harassing her family in their front yard. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Ahed was arrested again in November 2023 and held for three weeks without being charged. She was released at the end of the month as part of the prisoner exchange, but reported that the women in Israel’s jails are beaten, and refused food and water.

The corporate media presents a very slanted perspective and we are not getting the full story, not at all. I encourage you to learn for yourself by reading  Ahed’s story.