Filming Violence in Tel Rumeida

We visited Emad Abu Shamsieh and his wife Faize in their home in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron.  He and his family had to leave the home in 2000 during the second intifada because of the fighting, but he was able to return to it  in 2009 .

Israeli settlers and Palestinians live right next to each other in Tel Rumeida. Six months after Emad returned a settler threw a rock at his 12 year old daughter that broke her jaw and put her in a coma for 12 hours.  He filed a complaint with the Israeli police, but  they told him he had to prove that it was a settler that threw the rock. He said, "Look you have security cameras all over the place, just go look at your recordings." They told him, sorry but the cameras were broken.

After that experience he decided to get a camera for himself and began filming interactions with the settlers. Members of the community would let him know when something was happening. He found that settlers were less aggressive when they were being filmed.  He and his friends formed an organization called "Human Rights Defenders". They have made hundreds of videos in a project called "Handcuffing the military with cameras."

Painted sign " Human Rights Defenders" outside Emad Shamsieh's home 

On March 24, 2016 he made a video that was seen all over the world.  On that day a Palestinian named Abed al-Sharif had apparently stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli soldier near Emad's home. A soldier shot Al-Sharif who fell to the ground, badly wounded. After he had been lying on the ground for several minutes receiving no medical attention, an Israeli medic named Elor Azaria came up and killed him with shots to the head.  Emad had filmed the incident and B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, distributed it widely.

Emad Shamsiyeh with his camera

The extrajudicial execution-style killing of a man who posed no threat was widely condemned internationally and by many Israelis, but a large segment of the Israeli public viewed Elor Azaria as a kind of hero, and prominent Israeli right wing politicians Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman said that  criminal proceedings against him should be canceled. Finally, a trial did occur and Azaria was convicted of manslaughter, serving nine months of a one year three month sentence.  Emad's film was critical in getting that conviction.

Emad said that a party was held by settlers and soldiers with Azaria at the site of the killing in Tel Rumeida after Azaria's release from prison.

The critical role played by Emad's film in the prosecution of the case against Azaria led to extreme harassment of Emad and his family by settlers and soldiers.   It began a few days after the killing  of Abed Al Sharif. Settlers surrounded the house and threw rocks at it, chanting death to Emad Shamsiyeh. They also tried to set fire to the house. Soldiers repeatedly invaded and searched the house. Settlers posted a picture of Emad  and his family  on Shuhada street just below Tel Rumeida with a statement that they should be killed. He received hundreds of death threats, but when he went to the police to complain about the threats they detained him, so he stopped complaining. Settlers have physically abused all of his children and one child was  shot in the knee.  Settlers poisoned his water tank but fortunately he noted the strange yellow color of the water before he or members of his family drank the water.

Emad and the Human Rights Defenders of Hebron continue to make videos. Emad said to us as we were leaving, "One day I will be killed but the project will continue."