Water cannon in action
Water cannon in actionOlivier Fitoussi/Flash90

MK Mossi Raz from the Meretz Party, which in the past founded the lobby against police violence, on Sunday responded to the incident in which an elderly couple was thrown to the ground by a police riot-dispersal water cannon.

"Shocking violence by police officers, there is no justification for such use of a water cannon. I demand that the Public Security Committee be convened to put an end to the violent use of a water cannon," Raz wrote on his Twitter account.

Shai Glick, CEO of the Betzalmo organization, said, "This is shocking footage. It can be seen with certainty that these are two adults who are not at all related to the demonstration and in any case the water cannon is not allowed to splash directly at people."

"We demand that the Public Security Committee, which has already discussed the matter, reconvene for an emergency hearing to demand answers from the Israel Police and act to suspend the violent, life-threatening police officers," Glick stated.

Footage of the disturbing incident was posted to Twitter by journalist Bar Shem Ur. The video shows the couple on the side of the road, at a noticeable distance from where the haredi Jerusalem Faction was protesting the arrest of a yeshiva student before Rosh Hashanah.

The water cannon, which was passing through the area on its way to disperse the demonstration, began spraying the couple. The elderly man and woman fell forcefully to the ground and were injured from the force of the stream that was shot in their direction.

Israel Police released a statement concerning the incident which said, "From the footage, it would appear that the use of the water cannon, in this case, calls for an in-depth investigation. The case will be reviewed and dealt with appropriately, and the procedure for the use of water cannons will be refined."