How much is a ten year-old Palestinian girl worth? If you're the Israeli government or police, nothing. If you're Bassam Aramin, her father, her worth is beyond measure. If you're an Israeli court, you might, Solomon-like, split the baby and the difference, as the Jerusalem District Court did when it awarded Aramin over $400,000 over the negligent death … [Read more...]
Abir Aramin Died in Vain
I know it will pain her father, Bassam if he reads these words, but how else to describe the shameful decision by the Israeli Supreme Court to refuse to hold accountable two Border Police officers who murdered the little, then-10 year old girl on her way home from school one day in 2007. Bassam Aramin, is a co-founder of the Israeli-Palestinian NGO … [Read more...]
Jeep Driver in Aramin Murder Admits Border Police Fired
Bassam Aramin has taken the major step of filing an Israeli court case seeking to reopen the police investigation into the death of his daughter (see my series on the subject) at the hands of the Israeli border police. Though eight eyewitnesses testified that the Border Police killed 10 year old Abir Aramin, and though another witness found an Israeli … [Read more...]
For Abir Aramin, No Judge and No Justice
I have always admired the famous saying leyt din v'leyt dayan ("There is no justice and no judge"), which I first heard attributed to the great Hasidic Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotsk. It actually originated with the controversial Talmudic sage, Elisha ben Abuya, who saw a young boy climb a tree to retrieve eggs from a bird's nest. In an attempt to ease the … [Read more...]