Officer Who Shot American Activist In Her Eye Exonerated

[freepalestine]

Officer Who Shot American Activist In Her Eye Exonerated

Sunday November 28, 2010 10:33 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies [/URL]


The Israeli District Police in the Occupied West Bank exonerated an Israeli Army officer who shot an American peace activist in her eye during a protest at the Qalandia terminal, north of Jerusalem, six months ago. http://imemc.org/attachments/nov2010/emilyh.jpg
Emily Henochowicz - Democracy Now

On May 31, the 21-year old American Art student, Emily Henochowicz, was hit in her eye with a tear gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier during a nonviolent protest.

Henochowicz, a student at the Cooper Union College based in New York was participating in a protest against the Israeli May 31 attack on the Turkish ship, Marmara, that was heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies. Nine Turkish peace activists were killed in the attack.

She was carrying a Turkish flag during the protest when a soldier fired a gas canister at her hitting her in the eye. She lost her eye and suffered several other fractures.

Her family filed a complaint to the Israeli Police arguing that the police officer deliberately fired the canister at her.

But the officer, the Border Police battalion commander and the company commander claimed that the canister hit her in the eye after it ricocheted off a barricade, Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported. They said that their claim is “backed by video footage”.

Representing Henochowicz and her family, Israeli Attorney, Michael Sfrad, slammed the police investigation and stated that the investigation was negligent and described it as a “sewage treatment plant for the Border Police”, Haaretz reported.

Sfrad said that the police did not speak to Haaretz reporter, Avi Issacharoff, and photographer Daniel Bar-On, who were both at the scene and managed to capture the attack in print and photos, Haaretz added.

Sfrad stated that failing to question objective witnesses, who stated that the officer took direct aim at Henochowicz, is considered an obstruction to the investigation and a “confession that there is no interest in finding the truth”.

The case is currently in the hands of the district attorney’s office, the police told Haaretz without giving any further information.

Emily was studying at an Art School in Jerusalem; she holds Israeli citizenship, her father was born in Israel and her grandparents are holocaust survivors.

After arriving in Israel, she started spending time in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories, and her drawings started reflecting the suffering of the Palestinian life in the occupied territories.

Israel refused to pay a 37,000 USD bill for her treatment in Jerusalem and claimed that she was not intentionally shot. and that she “endangered herself by participating in the demonstration”.

Related;
Full August 5 Democracy Now Interview with Emily


Related Link(s): http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/5/exclusiveemily_hen...udent (http://www.revleft.com/vb/../report_posts?subject=Report post: Story 60034 with title: Officer Who Shot American Activist In Her Eye Exonerated&message=Report post: Story 60034 with title: Officer Who Shot American Activist In Her Eye Exonerated%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.imemc.org%2Findex.ph p%3Fobj_id%3D53%26story_id%3D60034%26%0A%0AEnter+y our+reason+here+-+please+do+not+remove+the+above+link+as+it+will+al low+an+editor+to+easily+remove+the+offending+conte nt)
http://imemc.org/attachments/nov2010/emily_wounded.jpg
Emily Henochowicz - Democracy Now
[URL]http://imemc.org/article/60034

[Medvyet]

Does it even matter if she was intentionally shot or not? I mean, just the simple fact that a nonviolent protester was seriously injured by an officer is pretty disturbing. I've never been to Palestine/Israel and I'm not really an expert on their affairs, but this is some pretty messed-up **** right here.

[Spawn of Stalin]

$37,000!? If I was the family I'd be requesting the soldier's head on a plate instead of financial compensation....seriously, this guy should get the bullet, no questions asked.

[Red Commissar]

Call me cynical, but was it expected that the government, especially right now, would show itself as weak in dealing with their actions on the flotilla? I mean on the government's end it's pretty much dead- they've let time take care of the issue to the point of making the flotilla be nearly forgotten and rendered irrelevant.

[freepalestine]

Call me cynical, but was it expected that the government, especially right now, would show itself as weak in dealing with their actions on the flotilla? I mean on the government's end it's pretty much dead- they've let time take care of the issue to the point of making the flotilla be nearly forgotten and rendered irrelevant.yes.i'll call you cynical.
ofcourse it's yet another story of isreali injustice towards palestinians and pro-palestinians activists.
but these incidents arent just storys -they are real.and affect peoples lives and their familys.

:mellow:

[MarxistRevolution]

IMO whats happening right now to the Palestinians in terrible. This is no different then when Europe went around colonizing Africa.

People say the Palestinians are terrorists but how would they react if they had there homes bulldozed and there land taken? This is nothing but modern day imperialism.