A Palestinian activist jailed at sixteen after a confrontation with
Israeli soldiers illuminates the daily struggles of life under
occupation in this moving, deeply personal memoir.
"I cannot even begin to convey the clarity, the intensity, the power,
the photographic storytelling of They Called Me a Lioness."--Ibram X.
Kendi, internationally bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Kirkus Reviews
"What would you do if you grew up seeing your home repeatedly raided?
Your parents arrested? Your mother shot? Your uncle killed? Try, for
just a moment, to imagine that this was your life. How would you want
the world to react?"
Ahed Tamimi is a world-renowned Palestinian activist, born and raised in
the small West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, which became a center of the
resistance to Israeli occupation when an illegal, Jewish-only settlement
blocked off its community spring. Tamimi came of age participating in
nonviolent demonstrations against this action and the occupation at
large. Her global renown reached an apex in December 2017, when, at
sixteen years old, she was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier who
refused to leave her front yard. The video went viral, and Tamimi was
arrested.
But this is not just a story of activism or imprisonment. It is the
human-scale story of an occupation that has riveted the world and shaped
global politics, from a girl who grew up in the middle of it . Tamimi's
father was born in 1967, the year that Israel began its occupation of
the West Bank and he grew up immersed in the resistance movement. One of
Tamimi's earliest memories is visiting him in prison, poking her toddler
fingers through the fence to touch his hand. She herself would spend her
seventeenth birthday behind bars. Living through this greatest test and
heightened attacks on her village, Tamimi felt her resolve only deepen,
in tension with her attempts to live the normal life of a daughter,
sibling, friend, and student.
An essential addition to an important conversation, They Called Me a
Lioness shows us what is at stake in this struggle and offers a fresh
vision for resistance. With their unflinching, riveting storytelling,
Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri shine a light on the humanity not just in
occupied Palestine but also in the unsung lives of people struggling for
freedom around the world.
