Today is March 8, International Women’s Day, and we want to pay tribute to the Palestinian women struggling for freedom. We particularly want to lift up the case of 17-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi.
After a video of Ahed confronting Israeli soldiers outside her house went viral, she was arrested in the middle of the night. Overnight, she became a hero for young women throughout the world. Israel wants her case to be forgotten so they have closed her trial to the public. No media, no diplomats, no human rights observers. Help us call on the US State Department to demand that Ahed’s trial be opened, and that they send a US official to monitor the trial.
We recently visited Ahed’s home in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. We met with Ahed’s father, aunts and cousins. We joined them in protests to free Ahed and all the Tamimi family members who are languishing in prison.
Watch the video of our recent visit to Palestine.
As mothers, our hearts go out to all the Palestinian mothers whose children are imprisoned by the Israeli government. Currently, over 300 Palestinian children are in Israeli prisons. Ahed is being held without bail. She is being tried in a military court with an over 99% conviction rate and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Please take a moment today to honor women’s struggles for justice by contacting the State Department. Tell them that they must demand Ahed’s trial be opened to the media and the public. We cannot allow Israel to silence Ahed’s case and her call for freedom.
We began CODEPINK as a way to rise up again the forces of repression and war. We will not allow Ahed’s voice to be silenced. We will rise with her as she calls for freedom, dignity and equality.
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Towards peace,
Medea and Jodie
