Court orders IDF to relaunch probe into injured American
Petition claims army did not dig deep enough into 2009 incident that saw anti-security fence protester hit in the head by a tear gas canister
JTA — Responding to a petition, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the Israel Defense Forces to reopen an investigation surrounding a head injury sustained by a U.S. citizen at a West Bank protest.
The protester, Tristan Anderson, in 2009 was observing a protest of Israel’s security fence in the West Bank city of Na’alin when a tear gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier struck him in the head, causing severe brain damage, according to Haaretz.
The IDF investigated whether the Border Police were at fault following the incident, but the petition claims the investigation was insufficient.
According to the petition, the army did not visit Na’alin and questioned only a few soldiers who were on the scene. It is unclear whether the army questioned the gunman who fired the canister.