Arab-Israeli poet Dareen Tatour, 35, reacts at the magistrate court after being sentenced to five months in prison, in Nazareth, Israel
An Israeli court this week sentenced Darin Tatour, a prominent Palestinian poet, to five months in jail after convicting her of “inciting terrorism” in a poem she posted on social media.
Tatour, a 36-year-old resident of the northern Galilee region, was first detained by the Israeli authorities in 2015 for her poem entitled, “Resist, My People, Resist”.
On Tuesday, she was sentenced to five months behind bars and six months’ probation after being convicted of “inciting violence” and “supporting a terrorist organization”.
The poem that drew the Israeli authorities’ wrath reads in part:
Resist them, my people, resist
Resist the settler’s robbery
Follow the caravan of martyrs
Tear the constitution of shame
They burn the children
Resist them, my people, resist
It remains unclear whether Tatour plans to appeal Tuesday’s court sentence.
An Israeli court on Tuesday slapped a prominent Palestinian poet with a five-month jail term for “inciting terrorism” on social-networking platforms. According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the Israeli Magistrate's Court in the northern city of Nazareth sentenced Darin Tatour after convicting her of “inciting terrorism” in a poem she posted on social media.An Israeli citizen, Tatour belongs to the country’s Palestinian Arab minority who remained on their land following Israel’s establishment in 1948 -- an event they remember as the “Nakba” or “the Catastrophe”.Israel arrests seventeen Palestinians in overnight raidsTatour, a 36-year-old resident of the town of Al-Rina in the northern Galilee region, was arrested by the Israeli authorities in 2015 for her poem entitled, “Resist, My People, Resist”.In early 2016, Israel’s Central Court in Nazareth released Tatour from custody but placed her under house arrest.It remains unclear whether the jailed poet plans to appeal Tuesday’s court sentence.
Israeli court slaps Palestinian poet with jail term
Double standards
In a Wednesday article, Israeli daily Haaretz appeared to criticize the double standards of the Israeli judicial system, which it accused of turning a blind eye to the incitement of violence by extremist rabbis and Jewish groups.
The Israeli judicial system, Haaretz asserted, “cannot discriminate between offenders who commit similar offenses based on their ethnicity or religion”.
The Israeli authorities, the newspaper goes on, appear to have “learned nothing” from their “resounding failure to mete out justice against rabbis who encourage ‘the heroes of the Jewish underground’ [i.e., extremist Jews who call for violence against non-Jews]”.
The jail term received by Tatour, it added, “shows that what rabbis in Israel may do, an Arab poet may not”.
“When it’s Jews [inciting violence], it’s an ‘underground’, not terrorism,” the newspaper states.
Over 3,900 Jewish settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound last month alone, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.“The highest number of incursions [by settlers] was recorded in July,” Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowment Authority, said in a statement.He said around 3908 settlers and Israeli soldiers stormed the flashpoint site last month.Israel arrests Palestinian youth over Al-Aqsa clashes“This is a clear indication of the increasing violations by settlers in the holy site,” al-Dibs said.Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community. Sacred to both Muslims and Jews, Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which for Muslims represents the world's third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times.International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories," considering all Jewish settlement building on the land illegal.Video: Israeli forces storm J'lem's Aqsa, injuring worshipersUS support for Israel hurts Middle East peace prospects291 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisonsJordan calls on Israel to halt 'violations' at Al-AqsaIsraeli forces storm J'lem's Aqsa, injuring worshipersIsrael wages ‘systematic religious war’ against Palestine
Over 3,900 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa complex in July
According to Haaretz, those who praised the “heroism” of Baruch Goldstein -- an extremist Jewish settler who killed 29 Muslim worshipers in the city of Hebron in 1994 -- “paved the way for the assassination the following year of [Israeli] Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin”.
Haaretz also cited a case from 2012 in which Israeli Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein halted an investigation into the authors of “Torat Hamelekh”, a religious tract that discussed how Jewish religious law viewed the killing of non-Jews.
Israeli forces rounded up nine Palestinians in overnight raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military on Wednesday.The individuals were arrested for “suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities”, the army said in a statement without elaborating on the nature of said activities.The detainees have since been remanded into custody for further investigation, the statement added.The Israeli army frequently carries out sweeping arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.According to Palestinian figures, approximately 6,500 Palestinians are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, including scores of women and some 350 minors.2nd Druze officer quits over Israel’s Nation-State lawDoctrine of Lebanon army focuses on Israel: CommanderPalestinian Authority slams Israeli abuse of prisoners
Israel arrests 9 Palestinians in overnight raids
The newspaper goes on to quote the doctrine of certain extremist rabbis -- verbatim -- who openly call for the murder of non-Jewish infants.
“Even [when it comes to] babies who violate the seven Noahide commandments [that apply to non-Jews], consideration should be given to killing them due to the future danger that will be posed if they are allowed to grow up to be evil like their parents,” it reads, according to Haaretz.