The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli, welcomed a 15-year-old victim of the violence of Israel’s soldiers in Palestine, Mr Mohammed Tammi, with his father and other family members at Parliament earlier this week. In welcoming Mohammed, Mr Tsenoli said he was grateful to be a platform for the young and traumatised Mr Tammi and his family at a time when he needed to express himself for the expectations he has for the support.
Asked by Mr Tsenoli about the kind of support he expected from Parliament, Mohammed appealed for morale and material support for all the Palestinian children who he said are under the ruthless brutality of the Israeli government. He said Palestinian children have no rights in their country of birth. “We want the people of South Africa and the world to know the terrible plight under which we live as children in Palestine,” said the young Mohammed.
He said the brutality of the Israeli government is the order of the day in Palestine. “Prison, torture, killings and all forms of brutality happen daily and are a common feature of daily life in Palestine,” stressed Mohammed.
Mr Tsenoli said he was delighted to welcome the child victim of the violence of the Israeli soldiers at a time when Parliament has just concluded a Men’s Parliament that discussed, among other things, the role of men to women and children. “I am very happy to see the father at the side of the child victim. We hope the father will continue to support the child,” said Mr Tsenoli.
He said Parliament has a resolution on Palestine. He told Mohammed and his father that he was going to share the problem of Mohammed with all the relevant role players in Parliament and outside.
Mohammed is currently in South Africa for a face reconstruction surgery after he was shot in the face with rubber bullets by Israeli soldiers in a close range in his Nabisaleh Village in December 2017. According to the Director of Shamsaan (Two Suns) NGO for children’s rights, Ms Nadia Meer, Mr Tammi lost sight and his lower jaw was broken.
Within six months after Mohammed suffered the injuries he suffered after he was shot in December 2017, he was kidnapped by the Israeli forces and underwent severe torture where he was forced to lie about the cause of the Palestinian people. His family, mother, father and the entire extended Tammi family is at the forefront of the struggle against the brutal injustice of the Israeli government.
Mohammed came to South Africa through the Shamsaan (Two Suns) NGO for a face reconstruction surgery. He arrived in October 2018 and was admitted at the Sandton Medi Clinic for face reconstruction surgery. Mohammed asked Shamsaan to be taken to the ocean as they are denied the chance to go to the beach in Palestine by the Israeli government. Shamsaan took Mohammed to Cape Town where there are oceans with good beaches and where he was taken to some of the beaches. Mohammed will return to Palestine on 2 December 2018.
By Mava Lukani
22 November 2018
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