3-year-old Palestinian boy detained for his terror tee shirt
Youssef is three years old, and an apparent threat to Israeli national security.
by Kathryn Shihadah
Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint in the Palestinian West Bank have sunk to a new low: detaining a 3-year-old Palestinian boy and confiscating his tee shirt.
His name is Youssef. He and his family were on their way to visit relatives.
Youssef’s uncle was there. He described the incident:
We felt like something huge is happening. A group of soldiers came toward us at the checkpoint, the guns at the watchtower pointed at us. Barbaric voices came from the soldiers shouted at us: Stop, don’t move, get back, freeze…They made us feel that this child is going to kill them.
What horrific crime had this toddler committed? The Israeli soldiers shouted,
Do you not see the image on his t-shirt? It is violence and encourages killing and terror.
The tiny shirt had a sketch of an M-16 rifle. It’s the latest style – many boys wear them.
They insisted that the toddler take off his shirt. He didn’t want to. He and his mom spent over an hour in detention – they would not pass the checkpoint as long as it was on his body.
Finally, little Youssef was released, shirtless.
Beyond the checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers then blocked the family car. Youssef had taken off the shirt, but it was still in his possession. It must be confiscated.
Ultimately, the soldiers won the day. They secured the shirt, and the family was allowed to continue their trip.
No kidding
Was this a practical joke? Apparently not. Israeli soldiers have been confiscating entire inventories of M-16 apparel. One Israeli professor, Gilad Hirschberger, claims such clothing contains a subtle cue that may “encourage violence.” He elaborated:
[J]ust being upset may not be enough to trigger violence, but being upset in a room where there is a plastic gun on the table or a sword hanging from the wall may be all it takes to elicit a violent reaction.
A violent reaction like: fully armed soldiers pointing actual weapons at a three-year-old child and demanding that he take off his clothes.
Israelis feeling fragile
To be fair, it’s not just Israeli soldiers who are scared of the M-16 shirts. Regular Israelis are too. The Yeshiva World reported with actual horror:
Unbelievably enough, Arab workers [note: Palestinians prefer to be called “Palestinians”] have been seen in Israeli supermarkets and other places, wearing the shirts. On Friday, an Arab [sic] showed up at work at a Yesh Chesed supermarket in Rechovot wearing a black T-shirt with the M-16 on the back, causing panic among the customers.
[A Palestinian employee from another store] delivered a grocery order to an Israeli customer [while] wearing the shirt.
In another unbelievable scene, two Israeli-Arabs [sic] wearing the shirts showed up at the Bituach Leumi branch in Hadera.
Even Israeli-Arab [sic] children at the park have been seen wearing the shirts…The trend has spread beyond shirts, with pants and even shoes spotted with the M-16 printed on them.
Why would Israeli soldiers and grocery store shoppers panic in the presence of an article of clothing with a drawing of a gun on it?
Could it be a reminder to them that Palestinians, discontent under a 45-year brutal occupation, will never stop resisting their occupier – an action that is protected by international law? A symbol of their discontent?
To Israeli officials – always ready to react with force, not diplomacy – confiscating the clothing – using guns – may seem like an un-ironic solution.
But controlling what Palestinians wear won’t change the way they think. Israel’s oppression is inescapable, and Palestinians will struggle one way or another till they have justice.
