Jewish Chronicle Editor, Stephen Pollard says the blinding in one eye, by Israeli Border Guards of Emily Honchowicz, “will make a fine addition to my ‘delete’ folder.” Jewish Chronicle Editor, Stephen Pollard, says that he is not interested in the truth of what happened. I wrote to Pollard, ex-editor of the Daily Express (owned by Britain’s major porn merchant, Richard Desmond, asking why he wasn’t interested in printing any details of this story. He wrote back saying that it was only fit for his ‘delete folder’. (Correspondence below).
This is of course par for the course for the Jewish Chronicle, the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world and arguably one of the worst too. The ‘JC’ as it is known, had a peak circulation of 55,000 and only a few years ago it was over 40,000. Now it’s less than 30,000 in Britain and still falling under Pollard’s screeching. He has made the paper so hopelessly biased on Israel, so incapable of even accepting that there might be a case against Israel’s militarism, that except for those already devoted, it is only succeeding in putting off those already committed.
You may recall that I have previously covered the case of Emily Henchowicz, who was blinded in one eye when a tear gas grenade was fired straight at her. This was the same day as the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and Emily and others were protesting about this attack at the checkpoint at Qualandiya.
Emily, which I didn’t know at the time, is also an Israeli citizen. As an art student she seems to have met with members of ISM and went to this ‘illegal’ demonstration (another example of Israeli ‘democracy’).
Her eye was destroyed and as she describes in a fascinating interview with Democracy Now, she was taken in an ambulance first to Ramallah and then to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. The Palestinian ambulance wasn’t allowed in Israel and she had to be transferred into an Israeli ambulance at the checkpoint.
She describes what an Israeli ‘inquiry’ was like. Emily comes across, unsurprisingly, as a fairly naive kid, stunned by her experiences, but she is taken aback at what the Israeli ‘inquiry’ actually consists of. They weren’t interested in where she and her assailant were standing, the distance between them etc. No they were more interested in why she came to Israel, who her friends were etc. And if they do this for an American/Israel citizen you can be sure that inquiries when it comes to Palestinians are non-existent.
Emily, the daughter of an Israeli born father and granddaughter of holocaust survivors has learnt the hard way that Israel is an oppressive and racist regime.
The final insult of course is that Israel refuses to pay the medical bills for her treatment in hospital. Literally they want their pound of flesh.
Tony Greenstein
Israel refuses to pay medical bills for American-Jewish protester who lost eye
Published 10:50 28.07.10
Emily Henochowicz was wounded by a tear gas canister in a demonstration following Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid.
The Israeli government is refusing to pay the cost of medical care for an American-Jewish activist who lost an eye when Border Police officers fired a tear gas canister at her during a demonstration.
Emily Henochowicz, who studying at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem and also holds Israeli citizenship, took part in a protest on May 31, shortly after Israel killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Emily Henochowicz after losing an eye at a protest at the Qalandiyah checkpoint − she was struck by a teargas grenade. Dozens of activists took part in the protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza next to the Qalandia checkpoint, south of Ramallah.
According to the IDF, demonstrators began to throw stones at the Border Police, after which the army responded by firing tear gas canisters.
According to Henochowicz, one policeman shot a canister directly at her face, shattering her jaw and causing her to lose her left eye. A Haaretz reporter witnessed the incident.
Following her her treatment at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Henochowicz’s father, who had traveled from the U.S., was handed a bill for NIS 14,000. Under advice from his lawyer, Michael Sfard, he asked the Defense Ministry cover the expense, but officials refused.
In justifying the refusal, the Defense Ministry claimed the tear gas was not fired directly at Henochowicz.
“The canister ricocheted at her after it rebound off a concrete barrier and changed direction – it was not shot directly at her,” the ministry said in a statement drafted by lawyer Sharon Zimmerman. The statement also accused Henochowicz of putting herself at risk by voluntarily participating in a breach of the peace.
In response, Sfard said that as police were still investigating the incident, it was impossible for the Defense Ministry to judge exactly what occurred.
“Either way, even if wounding of my client was the result of negligence and not criminal intent -even then the State of Israel has a moral, ethical and legal obligation to pay for her treatment,” Sfard wrote.
The Defense Ministry responded: “From our reports, we know that the Border Police acted in accordance with the law at the violent demonstration at Qalandia, and that the shooting of tear gas canisters at demonstrators was justified. Of course, we regret that Emily Henochowicz was wounded in her eye. But under such circumstances, the Defense Ministry does not cover the expenses of medical treatment.”
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tony greenstein |
Sent from my iPhone so please reply to
On 3 Jul 2010, at 22:34, tony greenstein <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Mr Pollard,
Below is a link to a story I blogged about an ordinary American Jewish student, Emily Honochowicz, who lost an eye peacefully protesting at a checkpoint in Jerusalem, the same day as the Mavi Marmara. A tear gas canister having been shot directly at her.
http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-american-jewish-art-student-emily.html
I realise that the habits of editing tabloid newspapers die hard but isn’t it time you covered not just this but the more general drift towards a police state in Israel? The attacks on secular Arab MK Haneen Zoabi, no supporter of Hamas, a liberated woman but clearly not the type that Israel’s knee-jerk supporters like, being the object of virulent abuse in the Knesset.
Instead of being an echo chamber to Jonathan Hoffman isn’t it about time you actually started reporting the more uncomfortable facts? When people look back this period of the Jewish Chronicle will come to be seen as one of its darkest and least glorious chapters.
regards
Tony Greenstein