Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
20 February
ROUTINE CASUAL BEATING OF A BLIND INVALID
On this day in 2019, Munzer Mizhar and his family were woken up by masked soldiers who ransacked their home and, without saying a word initially, beat up a blind Palestinian. Munzer, who suffers from serious diabetes and has been blind for fifteen years, said, “We first thought that they were thieves, and they started beating me up while shouting at me ‘We are the Israeli Defence Force’. His sister said “I saw how those soldiers were behaving… like wild beasts, not human beings.”الاعتداء بالضرب المتكرر على مريض وفاقد البصر
20 فبراير
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2019 ، أستيقظ منذر مزهر وعائلته عندما قام جنود ملثمون على تخريب ونهب ممتلكات منزلهم وقاموا بضرب الفلسطيني الكفيف دون أن ينبسوا ببنت شفة. منذر ، الذي يعاني من مرض السكري الخطير ومصاب بالعمى منذ خمسة عشر عامًا ، قال: "اعتقدنا في البداية أنهم لصوص ، وبدأوا في ضربي وهم يصرخون في وجهي" نحن جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي ". قالت أخته: "رأيت كيف يتصرف هؤلاء الجنود ... مثل الوحوش البرية ، وليس البشر."According to Israeli daily Haaretz
Munzer was awakened at about 4:45am by the sound of footsteps in the house. He woke his wife. He thought that maybe his sons were wandering about in the dark. His wife opened her eyes and screamed. He didn’t understand what was going on. At first they thought burglars had broken in. But Iman saw shadowy figures who had entered their room, while red laser beams sliced through the darkness toward their bed.
The spectres moved without sound. Later it would emerge that the troops had silently broken down the door. After an instant, Iman realized that the intruders were soldiers. They were masked, five or six of them in the bedroom, aiming their rifles at the couple. More troops waited outside.
Iman got out of the bed, her hair exposed to the eyes of the men who had invaded her room – a very sensitive matter for them, which Munzer refers to with pain. One soldier approached the bed and without a word punched Munzer in the face. Munzer is convinced that the assailant wore brass knuckles. His face began to bleed, with a lot of blood streaming from his nose, as well as from the wounds on his hands, which ultimately failed to protect his face. He saw nothing, of course...
The soldier held Munzer’s head with one hand and hit him relentlessly with the other, she says. The others just stood there. The beating went on for at least five minutes.
An Israeli journalist asks why the soldiers beat Munzer. His sister Maysoon, a bitter smile on her lips, replied:“You don’t know why? I’m afraid to talk because you’re Jews. They beat us all. The occupation beats us all. We are under occupation. This isn’t the first time they beat someone for no reason, and it’s not the last. What’s new about it is that this time they beat a blind person.”
The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit anounced when questioned about the sadistic beating that the soldier “tried to examine a Palestinian man who shouted and acted disruptively...The incident was investigated and appropriate conclusions were drawn.
2-minute video: Israeli soldiers beating Palestinians "and worse, happen all the time"
(https://youtu.be/8XglcAdqybo)
