Quds News Network

US Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a Democrat who has led efforts in Congress to hold Israel accountable for human rights abuses against Palestinians, denounced the arrest of five Palestinian children by Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem had reported that five Palestinians aged 8 to 12 had been detained by the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank near the settlement of Havat Maon south of Hebron. The five children were first chased away by Israeli settlers from the land where they were picking wild vegetables that is used as meals in the Palestinian kitchen. The children were taken to a police station in the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. The video footage shows Israeli forces in combat gear pushing visibly terrified Palestinian children into military vehicles. At one point, an older child tried to rescue another minor who was being escorted by a soldier only to be yanked away by another officer. https://twitter.com/btselem/status/1369657799676952579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1369657799676952579%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fqudsnen.co%2F%3Fp%3D22598 https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1369743850235904002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1369743850235904002%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fqudsnen.co%2F%3Fp%3D22598 "Seeing the images of heavily armed Israeli soldiers manhandling and detaining these five preteen Palestinian children is extremely disturbing," McCollum told Middle East Eye in an email. "Using Israeli soldiers to capture little boys who were reportedly 'gathering wild vegetables' in occupied Palestinian land is wrong," she added. The congresswoman is known as a staunchest critic of 'Israel' in Congress. She has spent years talking about putting an end to human rights abuses around the world, including looking at human rights violations in 'Israel'. McCollum, who has championed the human rights of Palestinian children in Washington, introduced legislation in 2019 to ensure that US military aid to 'Israel' does not contribute to the abuse of minors. The bill called ‘Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children,’ shorthand, HR 4391. It says that U.S. aid to 'Israel' shall be prohibited from being used to arrest, detain, abuse, torture or otherwise violate humanitarian law and the human rights of Palestinian children. As a whole, the U.S. government provides 'Israel' with $3.8 billion annually in military aid. McCollum’s bill aims to cordon off money from being used to detain Palestinian children. "I intend to continue to work as hard as I can to ensure US taxpayer dollars provided as military aid to Israel are not being used in any way that violates the rights of any Palestinian, especially children," the congresswoman said.

McCollum: Using Israeli soldiers to capture little boys gathering wild vegetables is wrong

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