NEW YORK (Dagbladet): Since the war broke out in Gaza, both Jews and Muslims in the United States have experienced a significant increase in threats and violent attacks. On November 25, student Hisham Awartani (20) and two friends were seriously injured when they were shot near the University of Vermont in Burlington.
Confronted on the street
The three men were visiting Awartani’s grandmother to celebrate Thanksgiving. Two of them were wearing Palestinian headscarves and they spoke a mixture of Arabic and English while they were out walking. Then they were confronted by a white man with a gun.
– Without saying anything, he fired at least four shots with the gun, and we believe he fled the scene afterwards, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a press release shortly after the shooting.
New attacks
The police suspect that the shooting was a hate crime.
A 48-year-old man was arrested in his own apartment the following day and charged with the shooting. He denies criminal guilt.
After a week of ceasefire, the fighting in the Gaza Strip is now resuming. Video: Hans Arne Vedlog and AP. Reporter: Jesper Nordahl Finsveen Show more
Hit the spine
While two of the shooting victims, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, are said to have emerged from the incident with minor injuries, Awartani has been paralyzed from the waist down after a bullet hit him in the spine, his family said, according to Reuters.
– We are grateful that all three will survive the attack, and Hisham’s friends are expected to recover completely. However, Hisham was hit in the spinal cord by the bullets. It has left him paralyzed from the waist down, the family writes in an update on Sunday at one collection page to cover his medical expenses.
Night to Monday Norwegian time, the GoFundMe page has collected over 678,000 dollars (almost NOK 7.5 million).
– He has demonstrated remarkable courage and resilience – even a sense of humor – even as the realities of paralysis set in, the family writes.
Thought the US was safer
Awartani, who has a Palestinian-Irish-American background, is a student at the prestigious Brown University.
The parents live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and flew to the United States while their son was on the operating table.
Deadly hostage game: – Most important tool
After the war broke out in Gaza in October, Awartani and his parents had initially agreed that it was safer for him to stay in the United States rather than go home to his parents for holiday celebrations.
“When my nephew came to this country to study, and when he came to stay with me for Thanksgiving in Burlington, I never imagined that he would be the victim of this kind of violence,” Awartani’s uncle, Rich Price told news agency AP and adds:
– I feel a form of shame, I feel a form of anger. And it has been hard to wake up to the fact that even here – even in this country, in this city – many of the dangers exist for my nephew and his friends that exist for them in Palestine.
A long rehabilitation period now awaits Awartani.
– We in the family believe Hisham will change the world. He will change the world through his spirit and his compassion for those far more vulnerable than himself – especially the thousands who have died in Gaza and many more who are struggling to survive the crushing humanitarian crisis taking place there, his family says.
2023-12-04 02:05:25
#Lame #shooting
