30 oct 2016
Four Israeli families who reserved rooms at guesthouse in the Black Forest in Germany through Booking.com were told by the manager of the property that they don't want Israeli guests; Booking.com: 'We are very sorry about the incident and are doing everything to find a solution.'
Four Israeli families that ordered guest rooms in the Black Forest for a family vacation received messages a week later that they are unwanted and they need to cancel the booking without being charged. The order was carried out via Booking.com, one of the leading websites in hotel reservations worldwide.
"We made the reservation a few weeks ago for a vacation we're planning in August of next summer," said Igor Tchahansky. "Because we're four families, which is 17 people, we decided to order the rooms as far in advance as possible so we don't end up without rooms and we wanted to be sure we got what we wanted.”
Four Israeli families that ordered guest rooms in the Black Forest for a family vacation received messages a week later that they are unwanted and they need to cancel the booking without being charged. The order was carried out via Booking.com, one of the leading websites in hotel reservations worldwide.
"We made the reservation a few weeks ago for a vacation we're planning in August of next summer," said Igor Tchahansky. "Because we're four families, which is 17 people, we decided to order the rooms as far in advance as possible so we don't end up without rooms and we wanted to be sure we got what we wanted.”
According to Igor, the rooms were ordered on the site after an extensive examination. The rooms were booked in an area of the Black Forest called Mattenhof. "We received approval for all of our rooms from the website as well as the hotel itself." According to Igor, after several days, all four families began to receive messages from the hotel.
"Each family got a different message. One family got an email saying the hotel only accepted guests for a minimum of one week. Another family got a message saying that booking is only available from Saturday to Saturday. The third family received a message saying the hotel is actually full, while the fourth family got the following message: 'We do not want Israeli guests. Our rooms are not for them. Please cancel your reservation with Booking.com. You will not be charged. Thank you, Schmider.'" Schmider is Barbara Schmider, the manager of the booking website.
"Each family got a different message. One family got an email saying the hotel only accepted guests for a minimum of one week. Another family got a message saying that booking is only available from Saturday to Saturday. The third family received a message saying the hotel is actually full, while the fourth family got the following message: 'We do not want Israeli guests. Our rooms are not for them. Please cancel your reservation with Booking.com. You will not be charged. Thank you, Schmider.'" Schmider is Barbara Schmider, the manager of the booking website.
"We immediately contacted the booking site, spoke with representatives in Israel and elsewhere. We told them the situation is unacceptable and they told us to wait, and that they would investigate the matter and send us different options," said Zana Pavlov.
According to her, the Israeli representatives of the booking site were rude and were angry that they had decided to publish an account of what transpired. "We know that Booking.com are looking for other rooms, but for the time being we haven't recieved anything."
In response to Ynet, Barbara Schmider said, "There was a big misunderstanding, Israeli guests are welcome in our home, the problem is just that we have no room and we forgot to update the calendar. We can give the guests the address of our neighbors, I think its ok, and we apologize."
In a conversation with Booking.com, representatives told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that the company apologizes for the incident. "We approached the booking site and they sent a message saying they do accept Israeli guests and that they have even had many Israeli guests. They claim that there was a misunderstanding and that they are overbooked and cannot accept guests. We are doing everything we can to find a solution for the guests and offered them compensation of 1,000 euro, and if necessary, we can increase that. We are very sorry about the entire incident."
According to her, the Israeli representatives of the booking site were rude and were angry that they had decided to publish an account of what transpired. "We know that Booking.com are looking for other rooms, but for the time being we haven't recieved anything."
In response to Ynet, Barbara Schmider said, "There was a big misunderstanding, Israeli guests are welcome in our home, the problem is just that we have no room and we forgot to update the calendar. We can give the guests the address of our neighbors, I think its ok, and we apologize."
In a conversation with Booking.com, representatives told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that the company apologizes for the incident. "We approached the booking site and they sent a message saying they do accept Israeli guests and that they have even had many Israeli guests. They claim that there was a misunderstanding and that they are overbooked and cannot accept guests. We are doing everything we can to find a solution for the guests and offered them compensation of 1,000 euro, and if necessary, we can increase that. We are very sorry about the entire incident."
UN testimony highlights government tension with civil society groups.
Soft-spoken, bespectacled and mild-mannered with the earnest, erudite mien of the astrophysics student he once was, 47-year-old Hagai El-Ad appears an unlikely candidate to be one of Israel’s most hated men.
But the human rights activist is facing the wrath of Israel’s rightwing establishment after urging the UN to “take action” against his country to bring an end to its occupation of Palestinian lands. Mr El-Ad, who chairs the human rights group B’Tselem, was accused by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “slandering the state” after testifying at an informal meeting on October 14 of the UN Security Council on Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Since then, conservative Israelis have taken to the internet to accuse him of treason and urge authorities to jail him.
The affair is emblematic of intensified tensions between Israel’s ruling rightwing camp and leftwing civil society groups, who accuse Mr Netanyahu and his allies of eroding Israel’s democratic freedoms for short-term political gain.
David Bitan, an MP with the ruling Likud and chairman of Mr Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition, has called for Mr El-Ad to be stripped of his citizenship. Amid widespread criticism, he later said he did not mean to jeopardise freedom of speech. However, his spokesman said the MP would sponsor a bill barring Israelis from urging an international body to “take action against Israel”.
Leftwing Israelis have rallied behind Mr El-Ad and B’Tselem, which says that online donations from individuals have jumped tenfold since the controversy erupted. The US State Department weighed in, saying America was “grateful” for the work of B’Tselem and other Israeli human rights groups. “It has been a long time since there was such a heated discussion about the occupation,” Mr El-Ad told the FT.
At the UN, Mr El-Ad said Palestinian lands were “slowly sinking in a sea of Israeli domination”. He quoted Martin Luther King’s assertion that “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor”. He did not spell out what kind of action the UN might take, and notes now that B’Tselem does not recommend specific solutions for resolving the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
However, his remarks hit a nerve. Diplomats and analysts in Israel have speculated that the US might back a firm UN Security Council resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the US election, as a departing gesture by President Barack Obama. Israel accuses the UN of systematic bias and this week withdrew its ambassador to Unesco after the cultural agency passed a controversial declaration that it said belittled Jewish historic and religious ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites.
For his part, Mr El-Ad brushes away the controversy and insists that opposing the occupation is “the most urgent and most pro-Israeli need that I can identify in this society”. “It’s worth noticing that they have not responded actually to anything we said,” he says of the Netanyahu government. “They haven’t refuted the data, the analysis; they are not engaging in a conversation.”
Mr Netanyahu’s spokesman referred to a Facebook post by the prime minister this week in which he said non-governmental organisations played an “important role”, but had “no right to impose on Israeli citizens what they failed to convince them to adopt at the ballot box”.
Even before Mr El-Ad’s speech, B’Tselem was already under scrutiny in Israel, whose government this year passed a law forcing NGOs with foreign governmental support to disclose their funding. B’Tselem gets more than two-thirds of its funding from foreign sources, including the EU, the UN, and European countries. He and other B’Tselem activists say they have faced harassment, death threats, and cyber attacks on computers aimed at disabling the group’s website.
Mr El-Ad’s mainstream Israeli background makes him an unlikely seeming hate figure. He was born in Haifa and his father was a reporter with Ha’aretz, the left-leaning newspaper. At Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Mr El-Ad gravitated to activism when he began volunteering with its gay and lesbian student union. He later worked for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, another NGO, before joining B’Tselem in 2014, when the war in Gaza unleashed febrile emotions in Israeli society and — say leftists — an intensifying government and public backlash against political dissent.
The discord is likely to escalate, if anything, as next year’s 50th anniversary of Israel’s seizure of Palestinian lands in the Six Day War approaches. “The occupation is a catastrophe for Palestinians — who have suffered endless human rights violations for close to half a century — and also catastrophic for Israeli society,” Mr El-Ad says.
Soft-spoken, bespectacled and mild-mannered with the earnest, erudite mien of the astrophysics student he once was, 47-year-old Hagai El-Ad appears an unlikely candidate to be one of Israel’s most hated men.
But the human rights activist is facing the wrath of Israel’s rightwing establishment after urging the UN to “take action” against his country to bring an end to its occupation of Palestinian lands. Mr El-Ad, who chairs the human rights group B’Tselem, was accused by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “slandering the state” after testifying at an informal meeting on October 14 of the UN Security Council on Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Since then, conservative Israelis have taken to the internet to accuse him of treason and urge authorities to jail him.
The affair is emblematic of intensified tensions between Israel’s ruling rightwing camp and leftwing civil society groups, who accuse Mr Netanyahu and his allies of eroding Israel’s democratic freedoms for short-term political gain.
David Bitan, an MP with the ruling Likud and chairman of Mr Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition, has called for Mr El-Ad to be stripped of his citizenship. Amid widespread criticism, he later said he did not mean to jeopardise freedom of speech. However, his spokesman said the MP would sponsor a bill barring Israelis from urging an international body to “take action against Israel”.
Leftwing Israelis have rallied behind Mr El-Ad and B’Tselem, which says that online donations from individuals have jumped tenfold since the controversy erupted. The US State Department weighed in, saying America was “grateful” for the work of B’Tselem and other Israeli human rights groups. “It has been a long time since there was such a heated discussion about the occupation,” Mr El-Ad told the FT.
At the UN, Mr El-Ad said Palestinian lands were “slowly sinking in a sea of Israeli domination”. He quoted Martin Luther King’s assertion that “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor”. He did not spell out what kind of action the UN might take, and notes now that B’Tselem does not recommend specific solutions for resolving the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
However, his remarks hit a nerve. Diplomats and analysts in Israel have speculated that the US might back a firm UN Security Council resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the US election, as a departing gesture by President Barack Obama. Israel accuses the UN of systematic bias and this week withdrew its ambassador to Unesco after the cultural agency passed a controversial declaration that it said belittled Jewish historic and religious ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites.
For his part, Mr El-Ad brushes away the controversy and insists that opposing the occupation is “the most urgent and most pro-Israeli need that I can identify in this society”. “It’s worth noticing that they have not responded actually to anything we said,” he says of the Netanyahu government. “They haven’t refuted the data, the analysis; they are not engaging in a conversation.”
Mr Netanyahu’s spokesman referred to a Facebook post by the prime minister this week in which he said non-governmental organisations played an “important role”, but had “no right to impose on Israeli citizens what they failed to convince them to adopt at the ballot box”.
Even before Mr El-Ad’s speech, B’Tselem was already under scrutiny in Israel, whose government this year passed a law forcing NGOs with foreign governmental support to disclose their funding. B’Tselem gets more than two-thirds of its funding from foreign sources, including the EU, the UN, and European countries. He and other B’Tselem activists say they have faced harassment, death threats, and cyber attacks on computers aimed at disabling the group’s website.
Mr El-Ad’s mainstream Israeli background makes him an unlikely seeming hate figure. He was born in Haifa and his father was a reporter with Ha’aretz, the left-leaning newspaper. At Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Mr El-Ad gravitated to activism when he began volunteering with its gay and lesbian student union. He later worked for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, another NGO, before joining B’Tselem in 2014, when the war in Gaza unleashed febrile emotions in Israeli society and — say leftists — an intensifying government and public backlash against political dissent.
The discord is likely to escalate, if anything, as next year’s 50th anniversary of Israel’s seizure of Palestinian lands in the Six Day War approaches. “The occupation is a catastrophe for Palestinians — who have suffered endless human rights violations for close to half a century — and also catastrophic for Israeli society,” Mr El-Ad says.
29 oct 2016
A team from the Israeli occupation army has been preparing for months for what may happen in the territories the day after Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is no longer in power.
According to Haaretz newspaper on Friday, the Israeli army is making preparations to deal with various scenarios after Abbas is gone, including a large-scale armed Palestinian conflict over the replacement of Abbas, “who is clearly living on borrowed time.”
The newspaper highlighted the political strife between Abbas and his arch rival Mohamed Dahlan, which recently turned into armed violence in Fatah-controlled areas of the West Bank.
“There is undeniable paranoia toward Dahlan in the Palestinian president’s office, but lately some of that feeling seems to be justified. This week the conflict between Abbas and Dahlan spilled over into violent protests in Palestinian refugee camps in Jenin, Balata in Nablus and al-Am’ari in Ramallah,” the newspaper said.
It also pointed to Egypt’s unhidden support for Dahlan, who was once in charge of the Gaza Strip and whose violations there led to a military revolt in June 2007, saying that Egyptian officials declared that openly in conversations with Israelis.
According to Haaretz newspaper on Friday, the Israeli army is making preparations to deal with various scenarios after Abbas is gone, including a large-scale armed Palestinian conflict over the replacement of Abbas, “who is clearly living on borrowed time.”
The newspaper highlighted the political strife between Abbas and his arch rival Mohamed Dahlan, which recently turned into armed violence in Fatah-controlled areas of the West Bank.
“There is undeniable paranoia toward Dahlan in the Palestinian president’s office, but lately some of that feeling seems to be justified. This week the conflict between Abbas and Dahlan spilled over into violent protests in Palestinian refugee camps in Jenin, Balata in Nablus and al-Am’ari in Ramallah,” the newspaper said.
It also pointed to Egypt’s unhidden support for Dahlan, who was once in charge of the Gaza Strip and whose violations there led to a military revolt in June 2007, saying that Egyptian officials declared that openly in conversations with Israelis.
28 oct 2016
Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara attributes two earthquakes in Italy, during which he was on a state visit to the Vatican, to Italy's decision to vote for a UNESCO resolution disregarding Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara (Likud) caused controversy when he blamed two massive earthquakes which hit Italy on Wednesday for the country's vote in favor of a UNESCO resolution disregarding a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
The deputy minister, who was in Italy when the earthquakes hit, ascribed the natural disasters to divine will.
The resolution itself sparked an outcry in Israel and among the international Jewish community since it disregarded the Jewish connection to its holy sites in Jerusalem.
Kara headed an Israeli delegation to the Vatican which was sent in an effort to shore up opposition for the resolution. Kara even managed to have a short conversation with the Pope during his visit.
"Going through the earthquake wasn't the most comfortable of experiences, but we trusted that the Holy See would keep us safe," Kara wrote in his memo.
"I'm sure that the earthquake happened because of the UNESCO decision, which the Pope strongly disagreed with. He even said publicly that the holy land is connected to the Nation of Israel."
After recovering from the earthquake, Kara met with the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, and tried to convince the cardinal to change the Vatican's position on the UNESCO decision.
Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara (Likud) caused controversy when he blamed two massive earthquakes which hit Italy on Wednesday for the country's vote in favor of a UNESCO resolution disregarding a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
The deputy minister, who was in Italy when the earthquakes hit, ascribed the natural disasters to divine will.
The resolution itself sparked an outcry in Israel and among the international Jewish community since it disregarded the Jewish connection to its holy sites in Jerusalem.
Kara headed an Israeli delegation to the Vatican which was sent in an effort to shore up opposition for the resolution. Kara even managed to have a short conversation with the Pope during his visit.
"Going through the earthquake wasn't the most comfortable of experiences, but we trusted that the Holy See would keep us safe," Kara wrote in his memo.
"I'm sure that the earthquake happened because of the UNESCO decision, which the Pope strongly disagreed with. He even said publicly that the holy land is connected to the Nation of Israel."
After recovering from the earthquake, Kara met with the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, and tried to convince the cardinal to change the Vatican's position on the UNESCO decision.
The Israeli security cabinet recently decided in a secret meeting to pursue a carrot and stick plan, which was proposed by Israeli war minister Avigdor Lieberman, against the Palestinians in the West Bank.
During that cabinet meeting, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, war minister Avigdor Liberman, interior minister Aryeh Deri, energy minister Yuval Steinitz and construction minister Yoav Galant voted in favor of the plan; whereas, education minister Naftali Bennett voted against it and justice minister Ayelet Shaked left a note opposing it.
According to Lieberman’s carrot and stick plan, severe punitive measures would be taken against residents of any Palestinian area in the West Bank if any one of them launched attacks against Israelis, while those prepared to live peacefully with Jewish settlers would receive privileges and construction permits.
The security cabinet decision, the first of its kind, was kept under wraps to avoid protest from Jewish communities in the region because it will give the Palestinians a chance to build homes in Area C of the West Bank, according to a Haaretz report Thursday. The decision was made on October 5.
During that cabinet meeting, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, war minister Avigdor Liberman, interior minister Aryeh Deri, energy minister Yuval Steinitz and construction minister Yoav Galant voted in favor of the plan; whereas, education minister Naftali Bennett voted against it and justice minister Ayelet Shaked left a note opposing it.
According to Lieberman’s carrot and stick plan, severe punitive measures would be taken against residents of any Palestinian area in the West Bank if any one of them launched attacks against Israelis, while those prepared to live peacefully with Jewish settlers would receive privileges and construction permits.
The security cabinet decision, the first of its kind, was kept under wraps to avoid protest from Jewish communities in the region because it will give the Palestinians a chance to build homes in Area C of the West Bank, according to a Haaretz report Thursday. The decision was made on October 5.
26 oct 2016
While an initial IDF investigation of the shooting incident that cost the life of 15-year-old Nimer Abu Amar finds that Egyptian forces opened fire due to confusion, a family member who was present at the site says that the Egyptian forces were informed that they were working for Israel before deciding to open fire; neither the IDF nor the Israeli Defense Ministry has sent a representative to offer their respects to the family.
After 15-year-old Nimer Bassem Abu Amar from the Bedouin town of Lakiya was shot and killed by Egyptian Army forces on Tuesday, Israeli security forces are trying to understand who was responsible for the tragic event.
The family is laying the blame on the Israeli security forces for abandoning Abu Amar, while the Defense Ministry has been trying to understand why the boy was in an area prone to fire, whether anyone was overseeing the entry of people over the border, and whether there were any instructions in place.
A preliminary IDF investigation found that Abu Amar, who was there to do construction work along the border fence with other members of his family, was mistaken as being on the Egyptian infiltrator by Egyptian soldiers. Abu Amar died while on his way to Soroka Medical Center.
Another report, though, contradicted the IDF report's conclusions. Visiting the mourning tent, one of the other workers who was present that day said that the Egyptian Army was told they were working for the IDF before they opened fire. "The (Israeli) Army is usually with us while we work. We were weeding around the area, when suddenly, an Egyptian Army squad car drove up, and an officer asked, 'Who do you belong to?' We told him we belong to the Israeli side.
The officer then said, 'You're not allowed to be here.'As we were making our way toward the exit, I heard the officer say, 'Start shooting now.' Nimer was the fourth from the front when he was injured. The Egyptian squad car immediately drove away. Within minutes, the army arrived and took care of him, and they also called a helicopter."
Apparently, the IDF soldiers realized that the Egyptian Army was firing due to mistakenly thinking Abu Amar had entered Egyptian territory and therefore held their fire. Instead, it extracted the boy, who was hit by a single bullet, and administered initial medical treatment. Both armies are currently cooperating to fully understand what led to the incident.
Though it did not send a representative to the family's mourning tent, the Defense Ministry referred to the incident in a statement, saying, "The Defense Ministry is conducting an investigation over the details of the shooting incident at the border fence with Egypt. A preliminary investigation found that Abu Amar arrived at the site with members of his family who worked for a deputy contractor, who hired them under the civil contractor. The Defense Ministry is continuing with the investigation until the general circumstances will be clarified."
The border fence was completed in the area where the shooting took place more than two years ago. The Defense Ministry's investigation is focusing on whether the workers were properly supervised, since former cases have shown that when it comes to providing workers with security along the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, both the IDF and Defense Ministry have shirked responsibility. Normally, though, workers have a military force on hand for their safety.
Abu Amar is the fourth Israeli civilian in the last few years to be killed in a security incident while working along an Israeli border. Contractors usually bring their workers to the area along the border on a daily basis for ongoing infrastructure work. The contractors who win the tender try to maximize their profitability by having their workers carry on even in potentially dangerous areas with insufficient security.
'No one came to show their respect'
There has yet to be a single IDF or Defense Ministry representative to visit the family's mourning tent in Lakiya. Salah Abu Amar, the boy's cousin, accused the security forces of racism. "If a Jewish boy would have been killed, it would be different. They abandoned the boy. Where's the army? Is there a shortage of soldiers in Israel? No one came to show their respect. You could come and say it was an accident, that can happen, we're all people."
The cousin continued to say, "Someone from the Defense Ministry called me to ask if it was okay to come. Why would it not be okay? Half of his family was in the army. Nimer's father was in the army and was commissioned for additional service. It's a disgrace. No one will bite them if they come. At a minimum, we expected them be at the hospital and sit with his father."
Abu Amar's uncle also criticized the IDF: "I blame the army. How could they let a little kid enter such a dangerous area? The Israeli soldiers abandoned the workers to their fate. Five family members could have died in that incident. There was neglect before and after his death. Either way, the life of an Arab citizen is apparently worth nothing."
Bassem, Abu Amar's father, came out strongly against the Israel Defense Forces: "I blame the Defense Ministry for the death of my son. There was no IDF security over the workers during the work itself. The soldiers left and only returned once they heard the gunshots, and even then they did not respond."
"Where's the prime minister?" He asked "Where's the defense minister? It's very simple: the army abandoned the guys working there."
After 15-year-old Nimer Bassem Abu Amar from the Bedouin town of Lakiya was shot and killed by Egyptian Army forces on Tuesday, Israeli security forces are trying to understand who was responsible for the tragic event.
The family is laying the blame on the Israeli security forces for abandoning Abu Amar, while the Defense Ministry has been trying to understand why the boy was in an area prone to fire, whether anyone was overseeing the entry of people over the border, and whether there were any instructions in place.
A preliminary IDF investigation found that Abu Amar, who was there to do construction work along the border fence with other members of his family, was mistaken as being on the Egyptian infiltrator by Egyptian soldiers. Abu Amar died while on his way to Soroka Medical Center.
Another report, though, contradicted the IDF report's conclusions. Visiting the mourning tent, one of the other workers who was present that day said that the Egyptian Army was told they were working for the IDF before they opened fire. "The (Israeli) Army is usually with us while we work. We were weeding around the area, when suddenly, an Egyptian Army squad car drove up, and an officer asked, 'Who do you belong to?' We told him we belong to the Israeli side.
The officer then said, 'You're not allowed to be here.'As we were making our way toward the exit, I heard the officer say, 'Start shooting now.' Nimer was the fourth from the front when he was injured. The Egyptian squad car immediately drove away. Within minutes, the army arrived and took care of him, and they also called a helicopter."
Apparently, the IDF soldiers realized that the Egyptian Army was firing due to mistakenly thinking Abu Amar had entered Egyptian territory and therefore held their fire. Instead, it extracted the boy, who was hit by a single bullet, and administered initial medical treatment. Both armies are currently cooperating to fully understand what led to the incident.
Though it did not send a representative to the family's mourning tent, the Defense Ministry referred to the incident in a statement, saying, "The Defense Ministry is conducting an investigation over the details of the shooting incident at the border fence with Egypt. A preliminary investigation found that Abu Amar arrived at the site with members of his family who worked for a deputy contractor, who hired them under the civil contractor. The Defense Ministry is continuing with the investigation until the general circumstances will be clarified."
The border fence was completed in the area where the shooting took place more than two years ago. The Defense Ministry's investigation is focusing on whether the workers were properly supervised, since former cases have shown that when it comes to providing workers with security along the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, both the IDF and Defense Ministry have shirked responsibility. Normally, though, workers have a military force on hand for their safety.
Abu Amar is the fourth Israeli civilian in the last few years to be killed in a security incident while working along an Israeli border. Contractors usually bring their workers to the area along the border on a daily basis for ongoing infrastructure work. The contractors who win the tender try to maximize their profitability by having their workers carry on even in potentially dangerous areas with insufficient security.
'No one came to show their respect'
There has yet to be a single IDF or Defense Ministry representative to visit the family's mourning tent in Lakiya. Salah Abu Amar, the boy's cousin, accused the security forces of racism. "If a Jewish boy would have been killed, it would be different. They abandoned the boy. Where's the army? Is there a shortage of soldiers in Israel? No one came to show their respect. You could come and say it was an accident, that can happen, we're all people."
The cousin continued to say, "Someone from the Defense Ministry called me to ask if it was okay to come. Why would it not be okay? Half of his family was in the army. Nimer's father was in the army and was commissioned for additional service. It's a disgrace. No one will bite them if they come. At a minimum, we expected them be at the hospital and sit with his father."
Abu Amar's uncle also criticized the IDF: "I blame the army. How could they let a little kid enter such a dangerous area? The Israeli soldiers abandoned the workers to their fate. Five family members could have died in that incident. There was neglect before and after his death. Either way, the life of an Arab citizen is apparently worth nothing."
Bassem, Abu Amar's father, came out strongly against the Israel Defense Forces: "I blame the Defense Ministry for the death of my son. There was no IDF security over the workers during the work itself. The soldiers left and only returned once they heard the gunshots, and even then they did not respond."
"Where's the prime minister?" He asked "Where's the defense minister? It's very simple: the army abandoned the guys working there."
