Palestinian Teen Ahed Tamimi Receives 8-Month Prison Sentence for Slapping Israeli Soldiers

Ahed Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl who was arrested for hitting and kicking two Israeli police officers, accepted a plea deal in which she’ll serve eight months in prison.

Tamimi will plead guilty to four of the 12 charges levied against her, including assault, incitement, and obstructing soldiers. The sentence includes four months that she has already served behind bars and a fine of 5,000 shekels ($1443). The deal has to be approved by Israel’s military juvenile court, which is notorious for leaving Palestinian juveniles with little choice but to sign plea bargains.

On December 15, Tamimi confronted two Israeli soldiers who were in front of her home. She kicked and slapped one officer, and punched the other. Tamimi’s mother, Nariman, filmed the incident and streamed it on Facebook. Tamimi was arrested in a nighttime raid days later, along with her mother and cousin, Nour, who also participated in the initial altercation. In a pre-trial hearing, Tamimi said she acted out of anger because her cousin Mohammed, still alive, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier.

Tamimi’s story has become a rallying cry among Palestinian liberation activists. The hashtag #FreeAhed has been making the rounds since her arrest and is used as a vehicle for bringing awareness to inhumane treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli military. News of her imprisonment even caught the attention of Jewish-American actress Sarah Silverman, who caught a lot of flack on Twitter after she tweeted, “Jews have to stand up EVEN when—ESPECIALLY when—the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government.”

Tamimi and her family have a long history of standing up against Israeli occupation. Archival AP and AFP photos show Tamimi getting into scuffles with Israeli soldiers from as early as 2012 when she was only 11 years old.