On June 12, 2014, three Israeli settler boys were kidnapped on a hike near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. Although a police recording indicated that one of the boys had been immediately killed, Israel set off a national search for the boys, entitled “Operation Brother’s Keeper,” in which it killed six Palestinians, arrested 545 others, and violently invaded 1,300 Palestinian sites. On 30 June 2014, the bodies of the three boys were found in Halhul, just north of Hebron. The discovery catalyzed a nation-wide hysteria for revenge among Israeli society as well as a military campaign of collective punishment against Palestinian society including a bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip and demolition of the home of the accused kidnapper. Israel insists that Hamas is responsible for the kidnapping notwithstanding repeated denial of responsibility by the Palestinian political party. In addition to the military campaign, vigilantes have also violently attacked Palestinian children resulting in the death of a twelve-year old girl in Hebron crushed by a car nd the death of a fifteen-year old boy whose body was found in West Jerusalem. In this interview on Al Jazeera America, Jadaliyya co-editor Noura Erakat responds to the Israeli General-Consul on these recent events. Noura emphasizes the immorality of the collective punishment campaign, the lack of evidence incriminating Hamas, and on the root causes of the conflict.
[Noura`s apperance starts at 7:20.]