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Even the notoriously lenient and often complicit US State Department is criticizing Israel’s sentence of community service to an Israeli border police officer convicted of severely beating 15-year-old Palestinian-American citizen Tariq Abu Khdeir in July 2014.

State Department spokesperson John Kirby said the following in a statement on 19 November: “We were disappointed to learn that the Israeli police officer who severely beat American teenager Tariq Abu Khdeir in July of 2014 was spared prison time by an Israeli court yesterday. Given the clear evidence captured on videotape of the excessive use of force, it is difficult to see how this sentence would promote full accountability for the actions of the police officer in this case. We understand there is a possibility for the Israeli state prosecutor to appeal the decision, and we’re going to continue to follow that closely, as you might expect...I’ll just state again, the safety, security, and protection of American citizens overseas is of paramount importance for this Administration, and we have demonstrated repeatedly – we’ve demonstrated that repeatedly in cases all over the globe.”

The Israeli border police officer, whose identity is being protected by the state, received just 45 days of community service, after he assaulted Abu Khdeir in the Shuafat neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Previous to the beating of Tariq Abu Khdeir, his cousin, 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir, was kidnapped by Israeli settlers, forced into their trunk and burned to death in Givat Shaul in the Jerusalem Forest. The savage attack came in response to the abduction and murder of three teenage Israeli hitchhikers on 12 June. This incident is thought to be a major impetus for the beginning of Israeli hostilities on Gaza during the summer of 2014, an offensive that killed 2,100 Palestinians.

The officer in question was tried and convicted of assault and battery in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, given a suspended term of four months in prison although the judge excluded this from the final sentence.

Directly before the incident, Israeli authorities surrounded the Shuafat neighborhood, which was reeling in turmoil from the death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir by Israeli settlers. Authorities accused all of Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s relatives of the death, eventually finding Tariq Abu Khdeir and beating him so badly he lost consciousness.

Tariq was then detained for three days, during which time he was interrogated and chained to his hospital bed--although it is illegal under international law to detain a child without parents and a lawyer present. Tariq was finally given a hearing, and subsequently prohibited from returning home to the US, forcing his family to pay $800 for his release. Nine months later, all the charges against Tariq were dropped.

Mondoweiss published a statement from the family of Tariq Abu Khdeir responding to the border police officer’s light sentence.

“To hear that the officer responsible for the inhumane beating of our young son, Tariq, was only sentenced to one-and-a-half months of community service is a shameful slap on the wrist and sends the wrong message that Israel tolerates the violent, extrajudicial beating of children. We continue to demand that justice be served, for the officers that participated in his cruel beating to be held accountable in a transparent manner, and for assurances that such treatment of Palestinian minors by Israeli forces will end.”

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din reports that nearly 94% of criminal investigations by the IDF against soldiers accused of criminal violence against Palestinians are closed. “In the rare cases that indictments are served,” the group stated, “conviction leads to very light sentencing.”

At the end of August 2015, there were 156 Palestinian minors being held in Israeli prisons, according to B’Tselem.

Israeli authorities are notorious for abusing Palestinian minors. According to a 2013 UNICEF study, 162 children reported being blindfolded during transfer; 171 reported being subject to physical violence and interrogation; 163 were not notified of their legal rights; and 144 reported being subject to verbal abuse.

And despite the State Department’s condemnation of the miscarriage of justice in Tariq Abu Khdeir’s case, the US continues to provide billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.