Israeli authorities arrested Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi based on a fake social media post, her mother said Tuesday.
Israeli troops on Monday arrested Tamimi, regarded in the occupied West Bank as a hero since she was a teenager, on suspicion of inciting violence, but her mother denied the claim and said it was based on a fake Instagram post.
The Israeli military said it apprehended Ahed Tamimi, 22, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. Tamimi rose to prominence in 2017 when, at age 16, she slapped an Israeli soldier who raided her village. She and others have for years protested Israeli land seizures.
Tamimi "is suspected of inciting violence and calling for terrorist activity to be carried out," the military said.
Her mother, Nariman Tamimi, said more than a dozen Israeli soldiers entered their house overnight and arrested her daughter.
Israeli authorities alleged the young woman "wrote an inciting (Instagram) post calling for the killing of settlers and saying what Hitler did wasn't enough – but Ahed does not have an Instagram account," her mother said in an interview.
Some Israeli media outlets published a screenshot of what appeared to be an Instagram post by an account with Tamimi's name and picture. The text threatened to "slaughter" Israel's West Bank settlers.
Reuters was not able to locate the Instagram account, which had the handle "ahed_tamimi15," or independently authenticate the image. The military did not comment on the image.
After slapping the soldier, Tamimi was sentenced to eight months in prison upon pleading guilty to reduced charges that included assault.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas previously called Tamimi "a model of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, independence and statehood."
Abbas said that the teenager is a "vital weapon" in nonviolent resistance to Israel's control over the West Bank.
She is one of the hundreds in the territory who have been detained as Israel continues to carry out ruthless airstrikes and ground invasion of the blockaded strip, where civilians are bombarded in hospitals, schools and U.N.-run refugee camps and have no food, water, or fuel due to Israel's siege.
Israeli violence has also flared in the West Bank, where Israeli soldiers and so-called settlers carry out raids on the homes of Palestinians. Since Oct. 7, Israeli troops have killed at least 141 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 43 children, according to U.N. figures.
Over 1,100 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli settlers since 2022, according to the U.N.
Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades, but Netanyahu’s far-right government has made it a top priority.
The international community overwhelmingly views settlements as illegal and a major obstacle to peace.
Palestinians who have been displaced report that Israeli authorities, charged with administering the territory, rarely respond to instances of settler violence.
According to U.N. data, nearly all the communities where displacement occurred said they had filed complaints with authorities, but only 6% said that Israeli authorities had followed up on the complaint.
