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The American Connection to the Raid

U.S. citizen killed; another loses eye in protest

by
Marc Tracy
June 03, 2010
Emily Henochowicz’s name in Hebrew script.(Henochowicz’s blog)
Emily Henochowicz’s name in Hebrew script.(Henochowicz’s blog)

Of the activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla who were killed, one was an American citizen. It has been confirmed that he is of Turkish ethnicity; a Turkey news agency reports it was Furkan Dogan, 19.

Meanwhile, a young American woman who had been living in Ramallah, in the West Bank, lost her eye when a tear gas canister hit her during a protest against the flotilla raid. Emily Henochowicz is a 21-year-old student at Cooper Union, in New York City, with, shall we say, very left-wing views on the situation (her blog is here). She grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is where I am from; her high school is five minutes from my parents’ house; we have friends of friends in common. (I can also confirm that she is Jewish.)

I disagree with those who say I am not allowed to feel a certain solidarity for Israel, going beyond the political, due to my strongly identified Jewish identity. But that also means I’m allowed to feel an even stronger solidarity with another Jewish kid from the D.C. suburbs. Well, damn it all.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.