Jewish Poet Hails Palestine’s Tamimi, Compares her to Anne Frank

Palestinian teenager Ahed al-Tamimi appears before an Israeli court. (Reuters)
Palestinian teenager Ahed al-Tamimi appears before an Israeli court. (Reuters)
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Jewish Poet Hails Palestine’s Tamimi, Compares her to Anne Frank

Palestinian teenager Ahed al-Tamimi appears before an Israeli court. (Reuters)
Palestinian teenager Ahed al-Tamimi appears before an Israeli court. (Reuters)

Prominent Israeli writer and poet Jonathan Geffen praised Palestinian teenager Ahed al-Tamimi’s courage against Israeli soldiers, comparing her to Jewish girl Anne Frank, who was killed in the Holocaust.

His post on Instagram drew the ire of Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who on Tuesday instructed army radio to censor Geffen.

Tamimi, 16, was arrested in December for slapping two Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, in an incident caught on video.

She has been charged with 12 counts including assault and ordered kept in custody until the end of the legal proceedings.

Hailed as a hero by Palestinians who see her as bravely standing up to Israel's occupation, Tamimi has also caught the attention of the Israeli left.

"A pretty 17-year-old girl did a terrible thing, and when a proud Israeli officer once again raided her home, she slapped him," Geffen wrote on Monday.

"She was born into that, and in that slap there were 50 years of occupation and humiliation," he wrote.

"On the day the story of this struggle is told, you, Ahed Tamimi, red-haired like David who slapped Goliath, will be on the same page as Joan of Arc, Hannah Szenes and Anne Frank," Geffen said on Instagram.

In posts on his own social media accounts, the outspoken Lieberman lashed out at the writer, whose songs -- for adults and children -- are very popular in Israel.

"I've instructed the commander of army radio to stop playing or interviewing Jonathan Geffen in all the station's broadcasts, and I call on all media in Israel to do the same," the defense minister said.

"The State of Israel won't give a platform to a drunkard comparing a child (Frank) who was killed in the Holocaust and a hero warrior (Szenes) who fought the Nazi regime to Ahed Tamimi, the brat who attacked a soldier," he said.

"Geffen's pursuit of headlines is sickening and infuriating," Lieberman continued, say the Lebanese ‘Hezbollah's’ al-Manar television channel would be a more suitable venue for Geffen's "nonsense".

Other right-wing politicians condemned Geffen, with Minister of Culture and Sport Miriam Regev saying that it was “disgusting” for him to compare Tamimi to Szenes, Frank and King David.

“She is not innocent, but a criminal who supports terrorism and she is now in jail,” she added.

Israel's military radio station is under the command of the army chief and ultimately the defense minister -- but not on matters relating to content of what is broadcast.

The justice ministry issued a statement reiterating that Lieberman "has no legal authority to intervene in the content of the station's broadcasts".



Sri Lanka Counts Monkeys, Peacocks and Squirrels to Tackle Crop Damage

FILE PHOTO: A man pulls a cart as he transports sacks filled with potatoes at a market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thilina Kaluthotage/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man pulls a cart as he transports sacks filled with potatoes at a market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thilina Kaluthotage/File Photo
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Sri Lanka Counts Monkeys, Peacocks and Squirrels to Tackle Crop Damage

FILE PHOTO: A man pulls a cart as he transports sacks filled with potatoes at a market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thilina Kaluthotage/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man pulls a cart as he transports sacks filled with potatoes at a market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thilina Kaluthotage/File Photo

Sri Lanka began a wildlife census on Saturday to count monkeys, peacocks and giant squirrels, aiming to manage their populations as farmers complain of agricultural losses.
Agriculture accounts for 8% of the country's economy and employs 8.1 million people, government data showed.
Sri Lanka is the fourth-largest coconut products exporter globally and produces about 3 billion cashew and other nuts annually, according to the Exports Development Board (EDB).
But coconut production, along with vegetable and fruit cultivation, has been hit due to crop destruction by monkeys, peacocks and giant squirrels, a top government official said.
"The problem has become so bad people are giving up farming. We are losing about 20% of total agricultural production. It is estimated that 90 million coconuts are lost every year," Namal Karunaratne, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, told Reuters.
"The census is the first step to understanding the density of these animals in farming areas so we can formulate proper policies to manage them."
The census comes after an incident in February when a monkey caused a nationwide blackout and power cuts lasting for three days.
Edirisinghe Arachchilage Gnanasena, a 72-year-old farmer, counted 45 monkeys, six giant squirrels and nine peacocks, in the five minutes allocated for the census. His eight-acre plot of farmland in Dambulla, a city in central Sri Lanka, has been struggling with crop losses for years.
With an air gun across his shoulder and lead pellets in a plastic bag, Gnanasena spends hours patrolling the neat rows of coconut, mango and banana plants he has carefully grown.
But tribes of monkeys still strip trees of hundreds of coconuts and pick mangoes, while peacocks swallow long beans whole, Gnanasena said.
"Monkeys are used to the air gun, so I light firecrackers to scare them off. But they always come back."
Farmers attribute the rising numbers of monkeys, peacocks, porcupines and wild boars in the area to habitat loss.
"I hope this census leads to long-term solutions. That is what we want," he added.
"This is not the fault of the animals. It is the fault of the humans."