JERUSALEM, June 7, (Agencies): The United States has asked Israel to investigate an incident in which an American woman lost an eye after being shot by Israeli forces with a tear gas canister during a pro-Palestinian protest in Jerusalem, a US diplomat said Monday.
Emily Henochowicz, a 21-year-old visual arts student from Maryland and a dual Israeli-American citizen, was struck in the face by a canister fired by an Israeli policeman during a violent demonstration against Israel’s deadly naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The case highlights charges by rights groups that Israeli forces are improperly using tear gas canisters by firing them directly at crowds in a way that has severely injured protesters.
Israeli officials say they are fully cooperating with the US request for an investigation.
Henochowicz, a young artist whose chief icon on her Internet blog is a large eyeball, returned to the US over the weekend and couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Her lawyer, Michael Sfard said he filed a complaint demanding a criminal investigation of the incident.
Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli activist who attended the May 31 protest, said Henochowicz was hit as a few Palestinian youths hurled rocks at the Qalandia checkpoint in northern Jerusalem. Pollak said she didn’t participate in any violence.
Footage captured by a Russian television channel posted onto YouTube shows the young woman walking with a Turkish flag — in solidarity with the Turkish activists who had tried to sail to Gaza. She is seen several yards (meters) away from the stone-throwing youths, falls down and is dragged away, bleeding profusely, by a female protester.
“We have talked to the Israelis about getting the details on the situation as soon as possible,” said US embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer. It is understood that the request for an investigation was made earlier this week.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel is cooperating fully with the request.
Israeli police spokesman Moshe Fintzy said an initial investigation said the tear gas was fired “according to procedures and there was no deviation from those procedures.”
But Sarit Michaeli, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, questioned the police’s tactics. She said police and soldiers often fire tear gas canisters directly at people — a practice she called “illegal and dangerous.”
Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres leaves for South Korea on Monday at the head of a large delegation on a visit aimed at boosting ties between the two countries, his office said.
“The aim of the visit is to increase political, military, and economic cooperation between the two countries,” said a statement.
The trip is going ahead despite South Korea downgrading its status from a “state” visit to a “working” after Israel’s raid on a Gaza Strip-bound aid flotilla last week that killed nine Turkish activists.
Israeli media said Peres would not receive a planned honorary degree from the University of Seoul or meet students.
A second leg of the trip to Vietnam was also postponed.
Nevertheless, Peres office said the trip, the first by an Israeli president, was “historic.”
“The Israeli delegation will include two government ministers and “60 business leaders from the premier Israeli companies in the security, infrastructure, communication, high-tech, and water industries,” it said.
Peres is expected to meet with President Lee Myung-bak and tour several South Korean research facilities during the three-day visit.