‘Now go and attack Amalek and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death the men and women, the children and suckling infants, as well as their cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys.’ 1 Samuel 15:3
‘When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess and drives out the many nations larger and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not save alive anything that breathes, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God who has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession…’ –Book of Deuteronomy
The Israeli military ‘executed’ a Palestinian-American teenager as he picked green almonds in a village in the occupied West Bank, bereaved family and members of the Palestinian community in New Jersey told reporters on Tuesday.
Amer Mohammed Saada Rabee, 14, who was born in Saddlebrook, New Jersey, and lived between the occupied West Bank and the US, was murdered on Sunday when Israeli forces fired at him and two other minors in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya.
Amer, a US citizen, was shot 11 times and died from his injuries, while the two other boys – one of whom is also a US citizen – sustained several bullet wounds but managed to survive.
Both boys – one with minor and the other with severe injuries – were taken to a Ramallah hospital.
At a sombre press conference held at the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) in Clifton, New Jersey, on Tuesday, organisers said the community had once again fallen victim to ‘senseless violence’ from the Israeli state with the full consent and support of the US government.
Amer’s father, Mohammed, who joined the press conference via Zoom from the occupied West Bank, said the family was heartbroken and in mourning over the loss of his son.
He said he was at home when he was told the Israeli military had opened fire on three boys in the village, including his son.
He immediately contacted the US embassy, but they were slow to respond to his pleas for help, asking him for ‘unnecessary’ details even though he was a US citizen with all the proper paperwork.
Hours later, he was informed that his son’s body was at a military base near Nablus. He said his son was given to him in a blue bag. His clothes had also been removed.
Exploding bullets
Mohammed said a doctor who examined his son’s body said it appeared that Amer had been struck by two different types of bullets, including a type that exploded once it entered his body.
He noted his son also had suffered two gunshot wounds to the head.
‘This was a cold blooded murder,’ Rami Jbara, Amer’s uncle who lives in New Jersey, said.
Rania Mustafa, executive director of PACC, said the village of Turmus Ayya is surrounded by Israeli settlers who routinely look to intimidate and interfere with Palestinian villagers.
The Rabee family’s farmland and farmhouse had been set alight and burnt by settlers last summer.
Mustafa described Amer as a bright kid who liked playing video games and spending time with friends, like any other boy his age. Mustafa said Amer was visiting family in New Jersey as recently as February.
She said his only fault was that he was Palestinian.
‘The reality is, like many Palestinians, that he was living in Palestine, and he was subjected to senseless murder and an execution,’ Mustafa said.
‘Our stories are consistently ignored. Our people are consistently dehumanised. Amer was murdered after he and two boys picked green almonds off a tree,’ Mustafa said, clarifying that it was almond-picking season in Palestine.
‘Amer was not in Gaza. He was in the West Bank. Palestinians are not safe, neither here, nor in the West Bank, Gaza or even the US,’ Mustafa said.
Israeli soldiers said the boys were ‘throwing rocks’ at Highway 60, a motorway that runs through the occupied West Bank from Beersheba to Nazareth.
They described the boys as ‘terrorists’.
But Amer’s father, Mohammed, said his son, along with the other two boys, were climbing trees and trying to break off almonds to eat when they were fired upon by Israeli soldiers.
‘Even if he was throwing stones [at anyone], he was 14 years old. They could have caught him and stopped him, but they wanted to kill him,’ Mohammed said.
Though the Palestinian-American community is calling for accountability from US officials over the killing of Amer, given his American citizenship, there is very little evidence to suggest that the US government will hold Israel to account.
In 2021, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered while reporting in the West Bank, and this case has been all but buried. Likewise, in 2023, 17-year-old Mohammed Khdour was shot in the head by Israeli forces while he sat in his car.
No actions have been taken in either of these cases.
On Tuesday, the US State Department said it was ‘aware’ of the killing by Israeli forces of a Palestinian-American teenager, adding that it was still seeking more information on what had transpired.
I am so sorry for his parents and other family members. I was in Israel in 1999 and saw how the Palestinians were treated. Their water was averted. It was terrible. Their land was seized, etc. I spoke at length with the Christian owner of the gift shop in Bethlehem. Thank you for your courage and dedication.