Israeli army can beat a child whose arms are restrained without all the officers being multiple officers were involved. One set on him. The other kicked him. And then dragged him by holding his hands behind his back. You can see the pool lot where they became. Only one officer has received any repercussion and that is a 15 day suspension. He may face amount charges. Noted the other officers involved faced any charges. The police department, which denied him medical care and then took him to see a doctor the bleedingid tariq has and he needs to see a specialist immediately the Israeli Police denied him that request. None of those officers have been suspended or brought to justice. What kind of message does that send . It shouldnt matter whether he is a citizen or not. It is enough he is a child. Only one of those officers faces any sort of repercussion. It almost gives the green light for the police to teach treat the Palestinian People inhumanely. I am sure they do not know he was american nor would they risk realize the repercussion. The Palestinian People will see the israeli officers can do whatever they want. Well nothing can ever justify it onlyim terrorism, pushes people toward destructive engagement. Those officersre are brought to justice. Dollars arepayer not funding those kinds of police forces. The second issue that disturbed me is the Israeli Police can detain without attention palestinian children. Tariq went through all of this. Day, he is not facing charges. His cousins are in jail without charges. It is unconscionable that a country that claims to be a democracy can lock children without charges. We are funding this nation. This is something that we need to reconsider. Issues israeli officials can retaliate by ransacking his home and arresting his uncle and cousin. They went in the home. They ransacked the place. They arrested his uncle and cousins. Charges in jail without because he spoke out about the injustice the Palestinian People are facing. What has become clear to me and is the Israeli Government has a double standard. A classs a different of people as secondclass citizens. I clients have not been treated equally before the law in israel. Homeer standard we see demolitions. Not only did they attack him, but they burned him alive through their homes were not alive. I do not believe the homes of any suspect should be demolished. Terrible of those terrorists who brutally killed theirree israeli teens, homes were demolished right away. This is a clear double standard. It will only escalate the conflict. Continuenment can not to fund Israeli Police and israely as long as engages in Human Rights Violations and treat a group of people differently as they are of efferent ethnic or religious origins. This is contrary to u. S. National security as victims may hold the u. S. Accountable. The billions of dollars congress authorizes, we are calling on members of congress and the administration to ensure officers involved brought to justice are brought to justice. It doesnt matter whether the child is a rajoy israeli, palestinian. All children should be treated equally under the law. Two, we are calling on the state department to help secure the release of his cousins and family members wrongfully arrested. Three, we must condition further israel adoptswhen provisions that make all people treated equally under the law. We are calling on the government to do everything in their power to pressure israel to make sure people have due process. There should not be a country that calls itself an ally of the u. S. That can indefinitely detain children without charges. Failure for the u. S. To take strong action to ensure individuals who attack tariq are brought to justice will only escalate the conflict as israel will feel it can act with impunity. Think what kind of message that sends to the world. Ensuring everyone has due bestss is in everyones interest. Officersens to all the and what action the u. S. Takes will be telling. U. S. Tolerateshe the mistreatment and that kind of the hater. May God Bless America and israel with leadership that values human rights equally. That will bring peace to the world. Thank you. God blesserica. America and god bless you all. [applause] thank you. In the times we are working and now and living in to see a full room. To have people flowing out into the hallway. It is refreshing for the work we are involved in. And the things we are consumed with day to day. I would like to thank everybody for being here and sharing stories. That are difficult to speak about. I cant imagine. As american with the privilege we do have any rights and freedoms we take for granted, to think about a prolonged occupation that has gone on since 1967 where soldiers live near communities regularly, cut throughout the west bank, east jerusalem. The occupation is just. Injustice. At the heart is systematic immunity. You have communities where that are located near settlements, military bases. Anything where the occupation has infrastructure, this is where palestinian children particularly are impacted. I work fortion defense for Children International palestine the only organization that focuses specifically on children. We started in 1991 to provide legal aid to children charged and is a rayleigh in israel he military courts. Withinn are brought israeli civilian courts. The treatment is very much the same across the occupied territory. ,s case is terrific but not exceptional. It is a typical case. Document hundreds of cases each year. Provide legal representation to kids. You have a system that provides little legal protection, little legal rights. They are arrested in the middle of the night from their homes. Blindfolded. Their hands are tied behind their backs. And 75 percent of the cases, there are some form of physical violet. Violence. Is set up to control people. The military is not a Justice System. It is a system of control. You see it in the way arrest play out. You dont see many kids being arrested in the center of ramallah. If you go to the northern west bank. Or have ron. Hebron. These are the communities being impacted. The the cases we document, kids we represent, it doesnt matter if you throw stones are not. It really doesnt. The system is not based on evidence. It is not based on the rule of law. International juvenile justice standards or any at all. Based on the that, location in the west bank, maybe it is a village with weekly demonstrations against the occupation. The confiscation of land. These communities are infected. Violently abused. Monterey criminal Justice System that provides very little legal protection. We take for, granted the right to counsel. Everybody can probably recite the miranda warnings. They are privileges we enjoy that protect us. Maybe not all the time, but in theory, they should. Those rights do not exist. A child is arrested in the middle of the night. If they are arrested at 2 00 a. M. , they may show up at an Interrogation Center in a settlement being interrogated by an Israeli Police up with her. Police officer. They have been in the back of a jeep, bound and blindfolded. Beaten. They are placed outside in the rain. Cold temperatures. They might not have shoes. This is the systematic illtreatment that has been documented by our organization and others. U. N. Agencies. Really, everyone. You have very little article changes. Practical changes. When there are practical changes , in the military law system, they do not affect anything. Childrene used to be, were considered anyone below 16 under military law. If you are 1718, you are an adult. Under israeli law, anyone under 18. You are treating people differently based on their identity. That has been changed. What did it do . Not much. Its not affect sentencing. If you are a 16 or 17yearold, you can be sentenced as an adult. Time periods. Nge if you are 14 or 15, you have to be brought within the judge for a 48 hours. Changes have not happened. That is why we need to push for challenging the systematic impunity that exists as part of the occupation. When people think of military law, international law, there is a strong focus on laws. Not much focus on the rule of law. Implementation of law to read what those protections actually mean. Does one thing in our Organization Works to do that is one thing our orders a she works to do. We documented a case of two palestinian teenagers shot with live ammunition at a demonstration. They were killed. It was caught on video. At the time, this felt like a significant shock. It cant be worse than this. Case isence for this insurmountable. We have so much, is on video. There has to be some sort of accountability. To this day, the soldiers responsible for those actions have not been brought to justice. Have not even had any accountability of any sort. Produced by the Israeli Military. The investigation is ongoing. There is a gag order. We do know from representing , documented violations of children, there is very little accountability. That is the heart of the problem. Gaza cant say enough. It is systematic impunity. Kids are dying, being bombed. They have been shot and bombed for years. The sees of gotcha the seizure of gaza violates international law. They are not pressing for an end to the humanitarian crisis. A ceasefire needs to happen immediately. It needs to be accompanied with an actual lifting of the siege. The status quo is not sustainable. Children will continue to bear the brunt of the violence as long as the status quo is perpetuated. It has been depressing. You bring a smile to my face because the room is full. I want to thank you for being year here and listening. Thank you. [applause] thank you for coming today. I amps the folks in. The mideast director for Amnesty International. It is my privilege to join you today. I want to thank the members of the press. Folks in the community who have been concerned. Congressional staff. Thank you for your opinion piece in the washington post. Think you were calling for a lifting of the gaza blockade. Thank you. [applause] the going to talk about Human Rights Violations. We have heard the experiences of tariq and their extended family. Sadly, they are not alone. Is in a human rights crisis. Is worth talking about the crisis that i think has brought us into this room today. That is what is happening in gaza right now. Latest numbers are terrible. 1400 palestinians, perhaps more, killed. Some 50 israelis killed. Perhaps a quarter million theirans displaced from homes. Some numbers higher than that. 10 of the 1. 8 million civilians now having fled their homes and sitting in line huddled in you and facilities. This is a terrible time for human rights. That only because hamas rockets are flying into israel, which do civilians between but also because the israelis are engaging in likely war crimes in gaza. Is common in the backdrop of a blockade. Every time there is a press release for allowing humanitarian shipments into gaza, remember the following. They dont want humanitarian shipments. The only reason they are coming in is because the Israeli Government has shut down the gaza economy. Palestiniansgaza no longer have factors to work in. Jobs. Unheard of doubledigit unemployment rates which reach 4050 of the population. It is a terrible problem that amounts to a collective basement. The blockade has to be lifted immediately. We have the problem of what are likely war crimes by the Israeli Government. For example, in the main power plant, it has largely been shut down by strikes originating from the Israeli Military. That would not only be a war crime but also amount to collective basement. Much of the gaza strip is dropped into a situation without power for some 2224 hours a day. The twitter pictures you are seeing of Gaza Civilians being if the people cannot charge their phones or turn on their computers, how is the world going to know what is happening . This is the problem that is faced by the 1. 8 million civilians living in the gaza strip. International is deeply concerned and calling for some bold and significant moves that have to happen. The Un Security Council needs to immediately establish an arms embargo. That includes israel, hamas, and Palestinian Armed groups. Until they do so, individual armsns and party supplying busstop. International is calling on the u. S. Government to stop supplying weapons, arms, and military aid to israel. Party to theajor conflict. It is time to stop the u. S. Supply of weapons. It is ridiculous that u. S. Secretary of state john kerry is talking about a ceasefire while simultaneously be u. S. Government is releasing more artillery shells and other forms of munitions to the Israeli Government. They released the latest information on 275 million worth of arms, equipment, and other forms of military aid released over the past 2. 5 years your region from rifle cartridges to the Israeli Government. And munitions do not include the bigticket items like jets and naval equipment. All of this needs to stop. All countries supplying weapons to israel or hamas need to stop immediately. That includes the u. S. To seetion, we have referral of the entire matter in a binding resolution to the International Criminal court. So there can be a prompt investigation and potential prosecution of everyone involved in violations of international law. Whether we are talking about Israeli Soldiers or those firing artillery, which by its nature is indiscriminate and untargeted. For hamas though since firing rockets into civilian populations. Everyone violating law needs to. E held accountable i went to move to the question of what is happening in the other parts of the occupied palestinian territories, specifically the west bank. What we have heard to date is one example of many in which Palestinian Civilians have suffered greatly under Israeli Occupation forces. And their conduct in the west bank. In february,year, Amnesty International released its latest report called triggerhappy. There are copies outside and i have a copy with me on the table. We documented how Israeli Soldiers and forces have repeatedly violated their obligations under International Freedom of dissent and expression. The report shows how Israeli Forces have been permitted to do so with virtual impunity and perhaps just one exception, none of the soldiers or combatants have been prosecuted by the Israeli Government. To give you an idea of some of the numbers we are talking andt, between january 2011 2013, over 8000 palestinians including 1500 children were injured by means other than live it ammunition. Including rubber coated metal bullets and the reckless use of tear gas the 8000, some 261 palestinians including injured by live ammunition. In terms of deaths, according to some. N. Office, in 2013, 27 palestinians were killed in occupied palestinian west bank. Eight were killed in 2010. Is a numberseeing of deaths due to excessive use of force by Israeli Security forces more than 2011 and 2012 combined to read combined. I want to be clear about what numbers are not included. They do not include cases of and cases of to injuries in searchandrescue. Or in protesters against the gaza strip in the socalled buffer zone. We are talking about numbers of deaths and wounded outside of those numbers. This leads to a situation in which you have no accountability and Israeli Soldiers and Security Forces are never held accountable with perhaps just one exception i know of. All this happens in the against the backdrop of oppressive laws. Were you have a racist dual track law. Palestinian civilians live under Israeli Military law well well is the Israeli Settlers live under civilian law. To give you a couple of examples of the laws civilians live under, that they are forced to violate by engaging in freedom of expression, military order 101 regarding the prohibition of acts of incitement issued by the israeli army commander. That law has remained in place since 1967. It prohibits gatherings of 10 or more persons for political purposes or even to discuss such a topic unless they have received authorization in advance. Let me break that down for you. Under order 101, it is illegal for Palestinian Civilians to peacefully protest the occupation they live under without the permission of the Israeli Military commander. May violate military order 101 when they violate military order 101, they are at risk of becoming one of the palestinians who have experienced injury. One more example. The its roots in forgot to mention the penalty for breaking the order. They face imprisonment for 10 years or a hefty penalty. This is what we are up against. One last case. Of a man i met a year ago when i participated in the Research Mission to the occupied territories, specifically the west bank. I visited a village whose main road has been blocked by similars the Israeli Military. I70 home of a Community Leader who has been i sat in the home of a Community Leader. He is in jail under a combination of false charges for supposedly for throwing rocks, but also for by the Israeli Security forces for a demonstration without a permit. Which i