“I felt that they would kill me the same way George Floyd, the American who was killed on a racist background on May 25, 2021,” says Rami Sawaeda.
Rami Sawaeda is a Palestinian driver who was assaulted on Thursday by Israeli occupation police at the bus station in Beersheba.
“At 5 PM, I was attacked by Israeli police at the bus station; when I tried to understand what is happening, they beat me, one of them put his weapon on my chest and said to me I will stab you, Arab,” Sawaeda told Al-Jarmaq News Agency.
It’s noteworthy that Sawaeda has two jobs in Naqab. He said that he works as a Hebrew Language teacher at a school in the morning shift, and as a bus driver in the evening shift.
He recounted with grief that he was insulted and humiliated in front of all of the people, just because he is an Arab. Sawaeda, who is from Galilee, said that the last thing he expected was that he would be subjected to violence only because he is an Arab.
“I was at evening work shift, driving my bus when I passed an Israeli roadblock at the gate of the central station in Naqab. An Israeli soldier prevented me from passing,” he said.
He added that I was wearing a work uniform, and had a card proving that I’m a driver. When I tried to understand the prevention reason, the soldier shouted at me, ‘Get out, you Arab bastard,’ so I told her, are you stupid! Suddenly, other soldiers came and started beating me.
لحظة اعتداء عناصر من الشرطة الإسرائيلية على السائق رامي سواعدة في مدينة بئر السبع بالنقب اليوم. pic.twitter.com/A7pwoEg9Ub
— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) June 2, 2022
“They hit me and punched me in the face. They banged me on the ground and used all methods of violence with me. One of them put his weapon in my chest and told I will stab you, Arab,” Sawaedh said.
He told Al-Jarmaq that an Israeli soldier put his leg on my head which make breathing impossible for me. At that moment, I remembered what happened with American George Floyd. I thought that what happened with him would happen to me.
Sawaeda said that at a moment I felt that I would suffocate to die, I no longer resist the beating. The Israeli soldiers began to pin his foot on my neck.
“My whole body was wounded as a result of beating. There are bruises on my head, feet, ears, stomach, back, and all over my body,” Sawaeda said.
Sawaeda pointed out that the Israeli soldiers who assaulted him rushed to accuse him of trying to steal a soldier’s weapon at the bus station. They wanted to say that they assaulted me because I’m a terrorist and they were defending themselves.
In his conversation with Al-Jarmaq, Sawaeda explained that the Israeli police released him yesterday, Thursday, and although he was assaulted, they set restrictive conditions on him, including confinement to the house until Saturday.
Sawaeda stressed that the importance of the strike announced by the Drivers’ Committee in Beersheba, adding, “This strike is very important, and the silence is forbidden.”
Such an incident is not the first and will not be the last, he said.
Yesterday, the Naqab Drivers’ Committee announced that Friday is a day of strike at the bus station in Beersheba, in protest of the attack by Israeli security personnel at the bus station on one of the drivers, and the violence that the drivers are exposed to.
مصادر محلية: وقفة احتجاجية لسائقي الحافلات في مدينة بئر السبع احتجاجًا على اعتداء الشرطة الإسرائيلية على السائق رامي سواعدة في المدينة أمس. pic.twitter.com/cEBxYr1Pnc
— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) June 3, 2022
Yousef Abu Ayesh, a member of the Drivers’ Committee in Naqab, said that the Israeli occupation forces attacked one of the Palestinian drivers, then arrested him, because he is an Arab.”
He stressed that the Palestinian drivers’ lives are always in danger under the Israeli occupation forces.
Aby Ayesh pointed out that the Israeli occupation forces are searching and humiliating the Palestinian driver every time at checkpoints.
He confirmed that the drivers are on strike today, Friday, because of the continuous Israeli insults and violence against Palestinian drivers in Naqab.
On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after a convenience store employee called 911 and told the police that Mr. Floyd had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life.
Mr. Floyd was killed because he is black. Ali Sawaeda was on the brink of being dead because he is Palestinian. The same incident and the same racism and the criminals are the Israeli occupation and those who fund them with weapons to kill Palestinians.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=19845
