Ahed Tamimi: Showing her true colors - opinion

Tamimi stands for the 21st-century iteration of antisemitic blood libels, Nazism 2.0, and the mendacious manipulation of bleeding hearts everywhere, especially in Israel.

 Then-Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebi honors Ahed Tamimi in Tunis, 2018. Now, at last, she has finally removed her mask, say the writers. She posted on Instagram: 'What Hitler did to you was a joke.' (photo credit: ZOUBEIR SOUISSI / REUTERS)
Then-Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebi honors Ahed Tamimi in Tunis, 2018. Now, at last, she has finally removed her mask, say the writers. She posted on Instagram: 'What Hitler did to you was a joke.'
(photo credit: ZOUBEIR SOUISSI / REUTERS)

Remember Ahed Tamimi, the blonde darling of Israeli leftists and the international media’s symbol of the Palestinian struggle? Here’s what she posted on her Instagram account last week:

“Our message to the herds of settlers:

We are waiting for you in all of the cities of the West Bank, from Hebron to Jenin.

We will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke.

We will drink your blood and eat your skulls.

Yallah, bring it on – we’re waiting for you.”

Let’s take a moment to recall that the author of these lines was a cultural icon of the Israeli Left – the so-called “peace camp.” Ahed Tamimi wasn’t just one more Arab who was arrested by the Israel Police. She was lauded and defended by Israeli supporters of “Palestine” – by Jews.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with freed Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi after she was released from an Israeli prison, in Ramallah in the West Bank July 29, 2018 (credit: PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT OFFICE (PPO)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with freed Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi after she was released from an Israeli prison, in Ramallah in the West Bank July 29, 2018 (credit: PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT OFFICE (PPO)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

Tamimi won support among the Israeli left

Israel’s left-wing mouthpiece, Haaretz, provided a platform for Tamimi’s supporters, showered her with adulation and lauded her anti-Israel activities. 

The attorney who represented her against 12 counts of violence and incitement in Israeli court proceedings was none other than former Meretz MK Gabi Lasky, who took great pride in the “privilege” she had to represent Tamimi. 

Lasky exploited the media attention to accuse the State of Israel of heinous crimes and “a failed attempt to break the spirit of this young woman who opposes the occupation regime.”

The late Yehonatan Geffen, the undeclared poet laureate of the Israeli Left, compared her to Hannah Senesh; David facing Goliath; Anne Frank. Let us not forget former Hadash MK Dov Hanin, MK Ayman Odeh, Peace Now’s Shaked Morag, Haaretz publisher Amos Shocken – the list of Tamimi’s Jewish patrons goes on and on.

Now, at last, this little Nazi has finally removed her mask. “What Hitler did to you was a joke.” “We will slaughter you, drink your blood and eat your skulls.”

Has anyone on the Left apologized for supporting Tamimi?

Have any of the great purveyors of the Left’s utopian peace paradigms abandoned their delusions? Have any of them apologized for the immeasurable harm their hate-filled accusations caused the Jewish People and the State of Israel? Have any of them perhaps attempted to explain themselves or how they were so thoroughly taken in by Tamimi’s hateful slander? Has even one of them denounced their former icon?

Sadly, we have very low expectations that any of them will do so, even when the truth has finally been revealed. As for the rest of us, it is our duty to speak this truth, to share it, to spotlight it. Some of us always knew that Ahed Tamimi was, is, and will continue to be a Jew-hating terrorist, even while others portrayed her as a hero of liberty and defended her criminal actions.

Ahed Tamimi is, indeed, a symbol.

She stands for the 21st century iteration of antisemitic blood libels. She stands for Nazism 2.0, and she stands for the mendacious manipulation of bleeding hearts everywhere, especially in Israel. She was the champion of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and so she remains, proving once again that there is no difference between the terrorists of Gaza and the terrorists of Judea and Samaria; they are one and the same. The PA, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), ISIS – all share the same goals and all are the direct continuation of Nazism. 

The only moral course is to confront and eradicate this terrorism wherever it rears its head, be it Khan Younis, Ramallah, or Sheikh Jarrah.

Sarah Haetzni Cohen is chairwoman of Israel Sheli, an organization promoting Zionism, activism, and Israeli public diplomacy. Naomi Linder Kahn is director of the International Division of Regavim, an Israeli think tank dedicated to Zionist land-use policy and Israeli sovereignty.