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Controversial Anti-Israel Activist Presents to Third Grade Class in N.Y.

Bassem Tamimi and his wife
Bassem Tamimi and his wife / AP
September 21, 2015

An elementary school in New York state appears to have allowed a controversial Palestinian activist present to a class of third-grade students about Palestinian children suffering at the hands of Israel.

Legal Insurrection reported that Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi visited a class of children Friday at the Beverly J. Martin Elementary School in Ithaca, New York, according to photos on Facebook.

Tamimi is known for, among other things, using his and others' children to taunt Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh in an effort to push the troops to physical reaction and capture it on camera.

Tamimi’s son recently threw rocks at an Israeli soldier, and his daughter is well-known for her frequent appearance in the videos.

Another anti-Israel activist, Ariel Gold, likely coordinated Tamimi’s engagement at the school. Gold is organizing Tamimi’s ongoing national speaking tour, which on Thursday evening put the Palestinian activist at an event in Ithaca.

Gold’s 12-year-old daughter, who is not a student at the elementary school, joined Tamimi at the event, as did local environmental and political activist Mary Anne Grades Flores. Both the elder Gold and Flores posted about the presentation on social media.

"Holding the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Bassem Tamimi, father of 4, of Palestine and 12 yr old Ithacan [________] Gold spoke to BJM 3rd graders about Palestinian children struggling living under Israeli occupation," Flores captioned a photo of Tamimi and Gold’s daughter on Facebook. "I am a witness to the gentle way the discussion happened and I am a witness to what is happening in Palestine. Denial of Human Rights by Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza."

Tamimi’s cousin, Ahlan Tamimi, helped carry out a suicide bombing at a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001 that killed 15 Israelis, including eight children, and wounded 130 others. She was jailed by Israeli authorities but released a decade later in a prisoner swap.

A representative for Beverly J. Martin Elementary School would not confirm to the Washington Free Beacon whether Tamimi visited the school.

Published under: Israel