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Israel is a tiny country in the Middle East sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea, the Sinai Peninsula, and a handful of countries that want it dead at
was apprehended by israeli police and brutal by beaten. the whole incident caught on tape. after international outcry and intervention by the state department, he was released from police custody and held under house arrest on the west bank for nine days. no charges were filed, and on wednesday, tarek khdeir returned back to the united states, and he and his mother join me now. thank you for coming. >> thank you for heaving us. >> tariq, let me start with you. you went to east jerusalem for a family vacation. what was it like before this happened? >> it was actually really fun. i had made a lot of friends and the first day i win there, there was like a party, and i met mohammed at that party and he was like my first friend. so, we hung out a lot from that point. >> you were hanging out in east jerusalem, couple of 15-year-olds, hanging out in the summer. >> yeah. >> you guys were going there --
it had been a while since the family had been there. >> yes, it had been 11 years. i was going to change my mind just because financially right now, you know, everybody is in kind of a -- you know, but tariq wanted to visit his family over there, and so we kind of -- >> you hadn't spent much time over there, since you were four? >> yeah. the last time i have gone there is when i was four years old and i missed everybody. >> mohammed, you obviously probably following the news about what is going on in israel. widespread outrage before the kidnapping and death of three israeli students. what happened when -- how do you know when mohammed has gone missing? >> well, that night, we were all together, me, mohammed and all my other cousins, we were playing games, until -- >> video games. >> no, games like -- we were
their extended palestinian family. the story is the story of the runup to at the conflict aiming in gaza right now. it all started with the disappearance of three israeli students in june. kidnapped while hitchhiking in the west bank, leading to a mass save manhunt head by the hamas government presumed to be responsible. three days later the israeli teens were found dead, and amid calls for revenge, 16-year-old boy, palestinian, khdeir, went missing from an east jerusalem neighborhood. his body was found later and an autopsy showed he had been beaten and burned alive. three israelis confessed to carrying out the murder in retaliation for the deaths of those three israelis. the suspects were indicted last weak. mohammed khdeir who died is tariq khdeir's cousin, and tariq
expect. and everybody just gathered to find out, you know, was he alive, was he dead? >> tariq, when did you learn what had happened? >> well, until i called my family, and when i called my family, they all came and then more cops came to the scene. so, and then i went and i saw the cameras in the store in front of the store, and we all saw two cars show up and kidnap mohammed. >> you saw on the videotape, the camera that the stores had taken, two cars had come and abducted him. >> and an dukbducted him. then when everybody got down and wanted to see what happened, like, at that point, we had -- we were running out of time. and we all knew that, and we were telling the cops, like, at this point, we were losing time. and the more time we waste, the more time he has, like, the more
>> abducted. and you did -- did you know this? did it circulate to the family quickly? >> um, actually, yes. once we got word of someone in the family being abducted, we had no idea who it was. until we finally found out that it was mohammed, and i knew he had been with him earlier that night, and it kind of -- i got really worried, you know. i didn't know what to expect. and everybody just gathered to find out, was he alive, dead? >> tariq, when did you learn what happened? >> well, until i called my family and when i called my family, they all came, and then more cops came to the scene. so, then i went and i saw the cameras in the store, in front of the store, and also two cars show up, and kidnapped mohammed.
chris. >> tariq, let me start with you. you went to east jerusalem for a family vacation. before all this happened, what was it like ? >> it was actually really fun. i had made a lot of friends, and actually the first day i went there, there was like a party and i met mohammed at that party and he was, like, my first friend. so we hung out a lot from that point. >> you were hanging out in east jerusalem. couple of 15-year-old, 16-year-old boys in a summer hanging out, right? >> yeah. >> you guys were going there, it had been a while since you'd been there. you have family there. >> yes, it had been 11 years. i was going to change my mind just because financially right now, you know, everybody's in kind of a -- you know, but tariq really wanted to go visit his family over there. and so he kind of convinced -- >> you hadn't spent much time over there, right? it had been since you were 4, right? >> yeah, the last time i had gone there when i was 4 years
tariq abu khdeir is back in the u.s. after finding himself the epicenter of the violent conflict engulfing israel, gaza, and the middle east. 15-year-old american touched down in tampa, florida, on wednesday, returning from what started as a simple family vacation. a trip to israel and the west bank with his parents and sisters. to spend the summer with their extended palestinian family. the story of how tariq's summer vacation became the subject of international diplomacy is the story of the run-up to the conflict that's raging on in gaza right now as i speak. it all started with the disappearance of three israeli students in june. they were kidnapped while hitchhiking in the west bank. leading to a massive happmanhunr the hamas militants presumed by the israeli government to be responsible. the three israeli teens were found dead. amid outrage in israel and
like, my vacation has been ruined, and everything was just wrong. >> how did this -- was tariq charged? >> no, he was not charged with anything. >> he was released. >> that's what i was confused about. i mean, i was in the courtroom and i thought he was just going to be released, you know, having the u.s. consular right next to me. and then all of a sudden she's like, you know, he is going to be on house arrest for nine days with a bail as well. >> after that nine days, released, there are no charges. >> no charges. >> outstanding. you are now home. your family is still in east jerusalem. >> we. >> and still living with the reverberating rep ue ining repe what's turning into a brutally ugly summer. >> this happens to palestinians every day. tariq is just one of the lucky ones that happened to be a u.s. citizen and somebody happened to
my vacation has been ruined and everything was just wrong. >> how did this -- was tariq charged? >> not charged with anything. that's what i was confused about. i was in the courtroom and i thought he was just going to be released, you know, having the u.s. consulate right next to me, and all of a sudden she's like, he'll be on house arrest for nine days, with a bail as well. >> after that nine days, released. there are no charges outstanding. >> no charges. >> your family is still in east jerusalem and still living with the reverberating consequences of what is turning into a brutal summer. >> this happens to palestinians every day. tariq was one of the lucky ones who happened to be a u.s. citizen and somebody happened to