In December 2017, Tamimi was detained by Israeli authorities for slapping a soldier, which was filmed and went viral, attracting international interest and debate.

According to a The Guardian journalist, he and his children "have known only a life of checkpoints, identity papers, detentions, house demolitions, intimidation, humiliation and violence.

To protect her from harassment, her parents relocated her to a relative's home in Ramallah so she did not have to pass through Israeli checkpoints to continue her secondary education.

[11] By Bassem's estimate, the family home, which had been slated for demolition in 2010 just prior to the village's adoption of its weekly protests, has been subjected to 150 military raids as of September 2017.

[12] She has argued that documented, organized protests against the Israeli occupation will lead to wider recognition of the Palestinian struggle for autonomy; her viral images and videos have produced a wave of public reactions in Israel and Palestine, as well as internationally.

The image of her waving a fist while confronting him went viral on social media, and she was invited to Turkey by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

[13] Three years later she gained attention after she was seen biting and hitting a masked Israeli soldier in the process of taking her younger brother away because he was throwing stones.

[21][22][23] Despite concerns about the use of military court for a minor who may have been singled out for "embarrassing the occupation", thirteen days later Tamimi was charged with assault, incitement, and throwing stones; her mother and Nour joined her, having been arrested in relation to the incident.

[29][30][31] While in prison, Tamimi earned her high school degree; she was released on 29 July, resolving to study law and "hold the occupation accountable.

[33][34][35] On 6 November 2023 Tamimi was arrested by IDF soldiers in Nabi Salih on "suspicion of inciting violence and terrorist activities",[36][37][38] her house was searched and the family's mobile phones were confiscated.

[39][40] Agence France-Presse (AFP) was shown the alleged Instagram post by an Israeli security source when it enquired about the reason for the arrest.

[48][49][50] Ben Ehrenreich, a journalist who documented the Tamimi family in 2012, saw her physical appearance as a factor in her celebrity; "A great deal of work goes into 'othering' Palestinians," he wrote, "to casting them as some really recognizable other.

[51] In February 2018, Israeli poet Yehonatan Geffen posted a poem on his Instagram page that compared Tamimi to Joan of Arc, Hannah Senesh and Anne Frank.

The Singapore Government's Media Development Authority (IMDA) banned public screenings of the film for its "skewed narrative" which could cause "disharmony" in the country.

But for those who hope to better understand the reason that Israelis and Palestinians glare at one another with such mutual hostility and suspicion, and why there is so much violence coming from both sides, this book will just not do.