Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Theres no need for a Military Police investigation to know that the soldiers who killed a child, Mohammed al-Alami, in his home village of Beit Ummar last month violated our most basic ethical expectations for the armys operations in the heart of a civilian population.

Its still too early to know whether the soldiers who raced after a pickup truck carrying a man and three children and shot deadly fire at it will receive backing from their commanders, or whether theyll be punished in some way and if so, how. Will a punishment be imposed simply to cover military rear ends, or to make the value of a Palestinian childs life clear to all soldiers? Mohammed dreamed of working for NASA someday, helped his uncle in his pepper garden and would have turned 12 in September.

One thing is already clear. Israels defense establishment moved quickly to punish the bereaved father after soldiers killed his son on July 28; it canceled his permit to work in Israel. He found this out from a colleague at work, as he has told Haaretzs Amira Hass.

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The father wasnt surprised, because many other people have experienced the same thing. Palestinians who lose a first-degree relative to soldiers bullets also automatically lose their work permits in Israel. In the computer system, theyre labeled denied for security reasons.

And this isnt true only for people whose relatives were killed during armed clashes with soldiers or who carried out a terror attack on Israelis. Its also true for Palestinians whose loved ones were killed by soldiers in a clearly civilian setting, unconnected to any incident that could be defined as combat or even a disturbance of the peace (i.e., a demonstration), or whose loved ones had no connection to such an incident.

Initially, the pain and bereavement dwarf the shock of losing ones job. But later, the loss of work, thanks to an arbitrary decision that takes no account of the identity of the person being hurt, becomes an inseparable part of the injustice.

The elder al-Alami said he had been denied a work permit in Israel for security reasons once before, because in March 2002 soldiers killed his brother Amjad. The rights group BTselem looked into that death at the time and concluded that Amjad hadnt taken part in any fighting.

A few years ago, the security ban on al-Alami was lifted and he began supporting his family by working in Israel. Judging by what he told Haaretz, he was happy with his work (paving roads, often at night) and had good relations with his employer. By telephone Sunday he said his employer tried to renew his work permit but was told that the issue is in the hands of the Shin Bet Security service.

The least the defense establishment could do now is to return the work permit to the bereaved father, Muayyad al-Alami.

The above article is Haaretzs lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.

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First the army killed his son, then Israel took his work permit - Haaretz

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