Shoe-hurlers target Israeli official

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:06:01 GMT      |    PressTV

A shoe modelled after the ones thrown at the former US president George W. Bush

Pro-Palestinian protesters pelt an Israeli official with their shoes before he starts 'justifying' Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip. 

On Sunday, Israeli reserves officer Ron Edelheit was about to brief an Amsterdam conference on the situation in Israel and Gaza when three protesters hurled four shoes at him, wrote Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, a Press TV correspondent reported. 

The protesters, two men and one woman, had managed to get in the Apollo Hotel's venue where the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) had arranged a conference. 


The shoes reportedly hit the Israeli official who served as the army spokesman during the recent 23-day Israeli attacks on Gaza. 


The demonstrators claimed the lecture was meant to "justify the massive destruction Israel planted in the Strip," Ynet reported. 


The attackers, whose identities are yet to be disclosed, were immediately arrested and accused of insulting the Israeli official. 


"This was an actual physical assault - past the limits of good taste," said Edelheit. 


"Once they throw a shoe - I'm in good company. Bush got two shoes thrown at him, I got four," he added referring to the Iraqi reporter Muntadhar al- Zaidi who earned worldwide fame for hurling his shoes at the former US president during a press conference in Baghdad. 


About 50 protesters had also gathered in front of the hotel. Another hotel had been chosen to host the event but the location was changed after the officer received death threats.