Betty McCollum vows to push that US military aid to Israel is not ‘used in any way that violates the rights of any Palestinian’
B’Tselem says Israeli forces arrested five Palestinian children in the West Bank on Wednesday (B’Tselem)
Ali Harb, Middle East Eye, 11 March 2021
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 Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers 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 military in the West Bank near the settlement of Havat Maon south of Hebron for picking wild vegetables.
The group shared video footage of Israeli troops 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.
“Seeing the images of heavily armed Israeli soldiers manhandling and detaining these five preteen Palestinian children is extremely disturbing,” McCollum told MEE in an email.
“Using Israeli soldiers to capture little boys who were reportedly ‘gathering wild vegetables’ in occupied Palestinian land is wrong.”