Israeli Officer Charged in Assault
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Version 0 of 1. JERUSALEM — A border police officer has been charged with assault after he was filmed beating a Palestinian-American teenager on the edges of a violent riot in East Jerusalem in July, the Israeli Ministry of Justice said Wednesday in a statement. Tariq Abu Khdeir, 15, from Tampa, Fla., was spending the summer with relatives in Shuafat. He got caught up in violence that broke out after the grisly killing of his cousin Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, by Jewish extremists in revenge for the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli youths by Palestinian militants in the West Bank. The footage of Tariq’s beating spread worldwide, prompting international outrage and a call by the State Department for a speedy and credible inquiry. The officer, who was not named, chased Tariq, who was “masked, with a kaffiyeh wrapped around his head, and holding a wooden slingshot,” according to the statement. After the youth was on the ground, and was not resisting arrest, the officer kicked and punched him in the head, face and upper body, the statement added. Tariq, who was hospitalized and has since returned to the United States, said that he had only been watching the clashes. Several other members of the Abu Khdeir clan have since been detained by the Israeli authorities. |