WASHINGTON (JTA) — White House officials met with a Palestinian-American teen beaten by an Israeli police officer.
National Security Council staffers met April 15 with Tariq Khdeir and his family, CNN reported this week.
A cellphone video caught the policeman beating Khdeir, then 15, during protests last summer in eastern Jerusalem, although he was not resisting arrest.
“The U.S. government has remained closely engaged with Tariq and his family since his return from Jerusalem,” a White House official told CNN.
Khdeir, of Tampa, Florida, was released from Israeli custody after U.S. intervention. A policeman has been charged in his beating.
He was beaten during protests after Mohammed Abu Khdeier, his cousin, also 15, was burned to death by Jewish extremists in a revenge killing for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens.
The family plans to return to Jerusalem this summer. Tariq’s mother, Suha, asked U.S. officials to pressure Israel to leave him alone while he is visiting.
