Israel Police deny Arab reports that they questioned Palestinian 4-year-old

A Palestinian news agency reported on Tuesday that Israel Police summoned for questioning Muhammad Rabi' Elayyan, a boy from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. It was proven fake news.

By TZVI JOFFRE
A Palestinian argues with an Israeli border police officer during scuffles that erupted after Palestinians held prayers just outside Jerusalem's Old City in protest over the installation of metal detectors placed at an entrance to the Temple Mount, July 17, 2017. (photo credit: REUTERS)
A Palestinian argues with an Israeli border police officer during scuffles that erupted after Palestinians held prayers just outside Jerusalem's Old City in protest over the installation of metal detectors placed at an entrance to the Temple Mount, July 17, 2017.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A Palestinian father who was called in for questioning by Israel Police brought his 4-year-old son with him and claimed that his son was the one summoned for questioning in order to create a media storm, according to Israel Police Foreign Press spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

The Palestinian WAFA news agency reported on Tuesday that Israel Police summoned Muhammad Rabi' Elayyan, a 4-year-old resident of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, for questioning on Monday at the police station on Salah Eddin Street on suspicion of throwing stones at a police vehicle. 
The report was proven to be fake news.
Originally, WAFA reported that when the father and son arrived at the station, the police officers said that the son wasn't summoned and that there was no questioning. Elayyan showed the officers a paper confirming his name and Muhammad's name.
"They threatened that next time they would take Muhammad and my answer was that Muhammad did not know what 'army' meant and he didn't know about the stones!" Rabi' told the press.
However, in Israel, a child under the age of 12 may not be arrested, interrogated as a suspect or brought to trial.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a Palestinian watchdog agency, posted a video of the four-year-old crying as he was carried by his father. This video was real, but the cause of the tears were fake.
The boy's father was briefly interrogated by the police and released.
 
"Contrary to the claim, because the minor was under the age of criminal culpability the police who arrived at the scene served a summons to the father only to come for a discussion at the police station in order to warn him about and clarify with him the actions of his son," Israel Police tweeted in response to a tweet by MK Ahmad Tibi in which he attacked the police for allegedly summoning the 4-year-old for questioning.
"To our sorrow, this is a part of a serious and dangerous phenomenon in the area whereby small children are used for throwing rocks at security forces, some of [these cases] occur alongside and under the supervision of adults and family members standing near them, and such was the case in this incident," added Israel Police.