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Father of Palestinian American teen killed in West Bank discusses son's death

The New Orleans community is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Palestinian American Tawfic Abdel Jabba killed in January. | PBS NewsHour

Father of American Teen Killed in West Bank Discusses Son’s Death

February 12, 2024

Father of American Teen Killed in West Bank Discusses Son’s Death

Ask students: Who are Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Hafeth Abdel Jabbar? How does Hafeth describe his son? What do you know about the West Bank? Where is it located?

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The New Orleans community is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Palestinian American killed last month. Tawfic Abdel Jabbar is one of the 94 children, and 370 Palestinians total, killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7. In late January, over a hundred cars formed a motorcade in his memory along a New Orleans highway. Amna Nawaz spoke with Hafeth Abdel Jabbar about his son's death.

View the transcript of the story here.

Remote video URL

Discussion Questions

  1. Who are Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Hafeth Abdel Jabbar? How does Hafeth describe his son?
  2. What do you know about the West Bank? Where is it located?  (see map)
  3. When and where was Tawfic killed?
  4. How has the White House responded so far, according to Hafeth?
  5. Why do you think does Hafeth says he cannot trust the results of the Israeli investigation into his son's death?

Focus Questions

Read the quote by Hafeth Abdel Jabbar:

There's no justice. I think we lost human — humanity. My government, my president, we claim democracy. We claim human rights, and we claim that nothing should be done against humanity. And now our own guns is killing our own children. And my son, it's a big example. And it shouldn't be — it shouldn't matter if he's American citizen, or he's from Mexico, or he's Latin, or he's Chinese, or he's white, or Jewish, or Muslim, or — children shouldn't be killed. People shouldn't be killed for no reason, like my son did.

  1. How do you think the Biden administration should respond to Tawfic Abdel Jabbar's death?
  2. Why do you think so many innocent civilians end up getting killed in war and conflicts that they are in no way responsible for? See extension activity below to explore more.
  3. Media literacy: Why do you think the NewsHour chose to interview Hafeth Abdel Jabbar? If the NewsHour were to do a follow-up story, who do you think they should interview?

Building Historical Context: Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Use this list of free educational resources to explore comprehensive ideas and strategies for teaching about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

Republished with permission from PBS NewsHour Classroom.

PBS NewsHour Classroom
PBS NewsHour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories. The site combines the best of NewsHour's reliable, trustworthy news program with lesson plans developed specifically for... See More
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