U.S. government walks back call for investigation of 7-year-old Palestinian’s death

Last week, a seven-year-old Palestinian boy named Rayan Suleiman died in an occupied West Bank village shortly after Israeli soldiers came to his home in the pursuit of stone-throwers. Palestinian sources said that the boy had died of fright. Rayan’s cousin Muhammed told Yumna Patel that soldiers had banged on the door and the family had sought to prevent the soldiers from taking away Rayan’s two brothers, and Rayan was terrified and collapsed.

That day, Sept. 29, Rep. Rashida Tlaib called for an end to U.S. military aid over Rayan’s death, and the State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel seemed to call for an investigation, saying “we support a thorough and immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the child’s death, and I believe the IDF itself has also indicated it will be looking into what has – what transpired as well.”

So that day the Associated Press and the widely-read Axios column by Barak Ravid reported that the U.S. had demanded an investigation of the killing.

The Israeli government was surely angered by the headlines around the world saying “U.S. calls on Israel to investigate.” We can be sure because Israel’s centrist government repeatedly expressed anger over very mild American calls for an investigation after Israel killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last May, and ruled the killing was a tragedy.

So two days ago the State Department walked back the call. Vedant Patel:

I want to take a little bit of a step back and clarify my comments from last week’s phone briefing because I think you [Said Arikat of Al Quds] and a couple others are taking them out of context. We did not ask for an investigation. What we said was we welcome investigation that the IDF had already indicated was underway. I understand from the latest reporting that the child tragically died of heart failure, which of course does not make this —which does not make this any less heartbreaking. But statements on this from the IDF made clear that an initial inquiry showed no connection, that this issue continues to be up to review. So I would refer you to them, but I did want to clarify my comments.

Reporters were somewhat incredulous, quizzing Patel about the difference between welcoming an investigation and supporting one. Or what difference it makes that the child apparently died of a heart attack.

Right on time, the Israelis reached the conclusion, yesterday: the Israeli raid on Rayan Suleiman’s home had nothing to do with the boy’s death.

The IDF on Thursday released the conclusions of its investigation into the death of a 7-year-old Palestinian boy during a military raid which found no connection to the soldiers’ actions… The investigation found that an officer questioned Suleiman’s father in the presence of two of his children at their home’s doorstep.

The United States plainly coordinated its comments with the Israeli finding in the death.

Compare this case with Mahsa Amini, the Iranian woman who died in the custody of the morality police last month after her arrest for allegedly dressing immodestly. The Iranians have said (pathetically) that case was a tragic accident and Amini died of a heart attack. But the U.S. has taken steps to impose financial sanctions on individual Iranian officials.

In this case the U.S. accepts the Israeli version that it was a tragic accident and is not going to call for an investigation, let alone investigate itself, even though we give Israel billions in military aid that are funding gross human rights violations.

Israel has shot and killed 23 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank this year with total impunity, and killed 17 children in Gaza in August– all in direct attacks mostly with US weapons.

The State Department obviously wants to do nothing to hold Israel to account. Just as it has rolled over for the Israelis on the Shireen Abu Akleh killing. “We believe that Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom,” its spokesperson Patel said by rote the other day, and Said Arikat of Al Quds called the government out for the hypocrisy.

With all due respect, I mean, when you say this and then we see, as we saw last week, the Israelis chase a 7-year-old, and then he falls to his death – I mean, these calls ring hollow, with all due respect, I mean, equal measures and all these things – the Palestinians are not holding Israelis under administrative detention. They are not destroying their home; they’re not blowing them up; they’re not removing them and so on. There are no equal measures. There are no equal measures. So my question to you: Will the United States take a position on the administrative detention? I think you would probably do that if it were else [where]. I mean, this is question that I’ve probably raised many, many times over the years in this room.

Patel merely responded, that the U.S. “urges the full respect for human rights in Israel, in the West Bank, and Gaza.”

Postscript: Today the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine issued a demand for a U.S. government investigation of how U.S. aid is being used in light of Rayyan’s death:

Rayyan’s tragic death demonstrates the devastating consequences of the hyper-militarized context that Palestinian children live in and the ramifications of Israeli soldiers’ presence in Palestinian communities….

The Biden Administration and Members of Congress must ensure that aid to Israel adheres to existing U.S. law, which stipulates that countries receiving U.S. aid must meet human rights standards or otherwise face sanctions or be deemed ineligible to receive aid….

Additionally, the Federation calls on our Members of Congress to take immediate action to defend the lives of Palestinian children and families and pass HR2590: The Defending Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Occupation Act, introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum, which seeks to ensure that no U.S. taxpayer funds are used by the Israeli government for: the military detention of Palestinian children; the demolition of Palestinian homes and property; or to further annex Palestinian land in violation of international law.

It is well past time for Israel to be held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians, including Palestinian children….