US Embassy in Israel Demands Investigation into American Injured in Protest

Monday June 07, 2010 18:51 by Harrison Christoff - International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

The American Embassy in Israel has called for an IDF investigation into how Emily Honochowicz, 21, lost her eye after being hit by a tear gas canister at a protest last week at the Qalandia checkpoint in the West Bank.

Henochowicz, right, after being hit by the gas canister

Honochowicz is an American art student studying abroad in Jerusalem. She was injured last Monday when she attended a protest in response to Israel's raid on the Freedom Flotilla. Israeli Border Police attempted to disperse the protest by deploying tear gas danisters, one of which his Henochowicz in the face and later caused her to lose an eye.

An internal investigation already conducted by the Border Police reported that Henochowicz was injured by a ricochet and that no projectile was fired directly at her. "The forces operated at the site impeccably and utilized means according to procedure," a Border Police spokesman told the Israeli paper Haaretz. "There was no directly-aimed fire in the incident."

However, other protesters who were near Honochowicz say that Israeli troops were aiming at her directly, according to Haaretz. They say that two canisters landed near her before she was hit by the third.

No further investigation has been conducted into the incident, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry has stated that "We are in a very open and effective dialogue with [The US] about the incident."

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