By Lincoln Anderson
A Cooper Union student lost her left eye after being hit in the face with a tear gas canister Monday at a protest in Jerusalem over Israel’s naval raid on a six-ship Gaza relief flotilla that had left nine people dead.
The Associated Press reported that a hospital official said the woman, Emily Henochowicz, 21, of Maryland, underwent surgery after suffering the injury. The tear gas canister that hit her was shot by an Israeli border policeman, the A.P. said.
According to a witness in the A.P. article, Palestinian youths were hurling rocks, but Henochowicz didn’t participate in any violence and was standing at a distance.
Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said, “We can confirm that a U.S. citizen, Emily Henochowicz, suffered a serious injury when a gas canister hit her in the face, as she was standing among other protesters in the West Bank at the Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel.”
Henochowicz’s Facebook page says she is in the Class of ’11 at Cooper Union, where she is studying “finger painting.” The page includes a self-portrait of herself painting and a favorite quote of hers by George Carlin. According to the A.P., her latest posting on Monday read: “Gaza on my Mind.”
