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Protester who heckled Netanyahu in Congress allegedly beaten, arrested at hospital
Eric W. Dolan
CODEPINK activist Rae Abileah was arrested at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C. after heckling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the anti-war group.
The 28-year-old Jewish American woman was allegedly tackled by members of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during Netanyahu's speech to Congress after she yelled, "stop Israeli war crimes."
Abileah was taken to the George Washington University Hospital, where she was being treating for neck and shoulder injuries.
Watch the clip below, which aired on CNN on May 24, 2011, and is embedded courtesy of CNN.
"You know I take it as a badge of honor, and so should you, that in our free societies that you can have protest," Netanyahu said after being interrupted by Abileah. "You can't have these protest in the farcical parliaments in Tehran or in Tripoli. This is real democracy."
Speaking from her hospital bed, Abileah said she was in "great pain" but that it was nothing "compared to the pain and suffering that Palestinians go through on a regular basis."
“I have been to Gaza and the West Bank, I have seen Palestinians homes bombed and bulldozed, I have talked to mothers whose children have been killed during the invasion of Gaza, I have seen the Jewish-only roads leading to ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank."
"This kind of colonial occupation cannot continue," she added. "As a Jew and a U.S. citizen, I feel obligated to rise up and speak out against stop these crimes being committed in my name and with my tax dollars.”
During his speech, Netanyahu said Israel was willing to make "painful" land concessions for peace.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28184.htm
May 24, 2011