American teen beaten by Israeli Police and held without charge

In a family vacation gone terribly awry, a 15 Year old Palestinian-American Tariq Abukhdeir was savagely beaten by masked Israeli Police on Thursday evening in Shuafat, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

Tariq Abukhdeir is the cousin of recent lynching victim Muhammed Abu Khudair who was abducted from his neighbourhood in East Jerusalem on Wednesday and hours later his charred body was found dumped in woodland on the edge of the city.

The video of Tarek’s beating surfaced on Friday as the funeral was held for his cousin, Mohammad Abu Khdeir, The video shows two officers striking the detainee, who was handcuffed and lying on the floor. One of the officers seems to be sitting on the Palestinian, while his colleague is kicking and punching him. The youth is eventually dragged away by the police.

Tensions rose after Mohammad Abu Khdeir’s body was found on Wednesday.

Since then, dozens were injured by rubber bullets, including six journalists, and three people suffered fractures after being assaulted by Israeli police officers.

Addameer, a Palestinian group that supports prisoners in Israeli jails, said in a statement that Tariq had been detained without charge and was denied medical treatment for his injuries for five hours.

The father of Tariq Khdeir, spoke to The Jerusalem Post regarding the situation surrounding his son’s arrest on Friday.

“Everybody who sees the video would say ‘This boy died’ how he [was] beat up,”

Saleh Khdeir said.

“If my son did wrong, or if he broke the law or not, why [did] you beat him up like this?”

The State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement that an official from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem visited the detained boy on Saturday. “We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody,” she said, “and strongly condemn any excessive use of force.”