So my 15 year old brother was driving around our town in Palestine at night with some friends. They were going out to get some falafel sandwiches and coffee. Not far from our house, two IDF jeeps pulled in front of their car, and one behind them, blocking them.
Nearly a dozen IDF scum armed with M16s surrounded the car while shouting at them to get out and get on the ground in their broken Arabic. Frightened and not having any idea what was going on, they all listened and got on the ground, where their hands were then tied up and their bodies searched.
While this was all happening, my brother was shouting “American! American!” knowing that by virtue of having been born in the US and being a US citizen, the IDF would be SLIGHTLY less likely to physically harm them, because people only seem to give a shit when a Palestinian American is beaten up, while Palestinian victims are otherwise frequently ignored.
My brother [and all the friends with him] are Palestinian citizens, with my brother holding dual US/Palestinian citizenship. His ID was in the car and not on him, and the IDF refused to listen as he tried to explain, instead berating them in broken Arabic and accusing them of being out to “do something” driving at night, instead of just a few kids out to get coffee and food
Eventually, after a friend had already started to cry out of fear, my brother was able to explain to them that his ID was in the car. The IDF scum searched the car and pulled it out. It was his American ID, and the IDF eventually untied them all and began questioning them in English some more. Finally, the Israeli shits ask “If you’re American, what are you doing in this shithole? It’s a dump, go to Jerusalem instead. It’s much nicer and isn’t full of rats [rats referring to Palestinians, not actual rats]”.
My brother laughed and joked with him, frightened and wanting to just be let go to end the night and go home.
But that is the reality of the Israeli occupation, and Israeli soldiers. My brother was just 15, and they were no more than two miles away from our house, in a nice town that [used to] see little conflict and “stays out of trouble”, but nope, Israeli forces instead referred to it as a “dump” and “shithole”.
What’s funny is that the IDF scum suggested that my brother visit Jerusalem, but as a Palestinian citizen….he can’t, as Palestinians simply are not allowed to enter Jerusalem [or any other “Israeli controlled” area or Israel-proper], which is common knowledge. What does it tell you when IDF soldiers don’t even know this?
According to my brother, the soldiers didn’t look older than their early 20s, and that’s how most Israeli soldiers are. They’re merely kids raised on anti-Palestinian hate in a culture fueled by racism and the erasure of our history and identity, given weapons, and put in control of us/our people.
I can’t help but imagine how much differently the entire ordeal would’ve gone had my brother not had his US ID on him. You hear daily about IDF “arresting” Palestinian kids without charge and detaining them, and overwhelmingly so, this is done for no reason other than to intimidate, control, and exert domination. Chances are, that had my brother not had his US ID, he would’ve been arrested that night and held in an Israeli military prison along with the hundreds of other children Israel has arrested without charge.
Thankfully, he made it home shaken, but safe, and has decided to no longer drive alone.
This comes as the IDF have increased their patrols through our small town, arresting several people while shooting a few others, including shooting tear-gas into our home [despite NOBODY doing anything to draw their attention - they simply shot their canister through our window and into a sitting room]
There was no checkpoint that my brother was stopped at, there was no curfew, and he was within Palestinian-territory in a legal vehicle having done absolutely nothing wrong, and still he was treated like a wanted felon with freaking MULTIPLE WEAPONS drawn on him by “trained” soldiers.
Israel is a terrorist state and all IDF are scum, period.
