I’m an American Activist. Israeli Forces Shot Me at a Peaceful Protest in the West Bank

TIME

On Friday, Aug. 9, American activist Daniel Santiago was shot by an Israeli soldier during a peaceful demonstration in the West Bank village of Beita.

Transcript

00:00So, since the escalation of October 7th, it was hard for me to teach, I'm a teacher in

00:26Jersey City, and it was hard for me to concentrate on just teaching and thinking everything is

00:32normal when there's a genocide happening.

00:37I had a keffiyeh, I lost it, someone took it, so I bought a new one and then there was

00:43a postcard that came with it, a handwritten note that said thank you for your solidarity

00:47and your support, and an invitation to visit.

00:50That's when I asked my friends, part of multiple movements, how to go to Palestine and take

00:58part in solidarity.

00:59I found out about FAZA, an international volunteer group that's non-violent, that's pretty much

01:05documenting and reporting on any things that happen with the Israeli army, as well as settlers,

01:13any violence to the Palestinians, so we are a buffer.

01:18And then I took the orientation and I decided to go.

01:21So on the day, as a member of FAZA, we go to the weekly demonstrations in Beita, every

01:31Friday, so when we got there, we already saw a lot of the Israeli army posted up on the

01:38outpost, around three of them, but it seemed like there was escalation happening a lot

01:46faster.

01:47So, we did the Jummah prayer without incident, but that was like five, ten minutes, and then

01:52after that, tear gas was shot at us, and live rounds.

01:57This was the first time that someone got shot at the demonstration, we hid behind a concrete

02:02wall, and then we were at the same street as where the Israeli army was.

02:09When we saw that the Israeli army was going down to the trucks, we were a little scared,

02:18we saw Palestinians run into the olive grove, so we followed.

02:23That is when the Israeli army shot at us, tear gas, as well as the live rounds.

02:29And one of those live rounds went into my right thigh.

02:33And that is when the Palestinians carried me to safety in a pickup truck, and even going

02:41to the hospital, we were stopped three times by the Israeli army, two checkpoints, and

02:48one time they blocked us with the army trucks as well, to the hospital.

02:54When I was in the hospital, there was a 13-year-old boy down the hall that I met.

02:58They shot him in the legs for playing soccer.

03:02The next day when I was in the hospital, there were four boys that were shot, three

03:08in the leg, one in the shoulder.

03:14And without us being there as a buffer, they can move with impunity.

03:19Also while I was in the hospital, the U.S. sent arms to Israel, and that's when the school

03:27got bombed, where over 100 Palestinians were killed.

03:31The U.S. embassy reached out, I gave them a statement.

03:34I will be giving them consent to report.

03:40But that was it.

03:41No state officials, no politicians reached out to me, just the embassy when they found

03:47out.

03:49But I was very hesitant to because they always say that Israel will investigate their own

03:54crimes and nothing happens.

03:56I hope to come back to Palestine again with FASA or ISM, to be with the Palestinians again.

04:04Because they were the ones that saved my life, and I owe a debt to them.

04:09And I also just love the love and care that they showed me when I was there.

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