On Monday, Biden administration officials refused to publicly acknowledge that an Israeli soldier killed an American citizen in the occupied West Bank, saying they would let Israel’s investigation “play out.”
26-year-old a Turkish-American Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and recent University of Washington graduate, was shot in the head on September 6 and pronounced dead at a local hospital. Eyewitnesses say that Eygi was peacefully protesting illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank village of Beita when she was shot by an Israeli sniper on a nearby roof.
“We were peacefully demonstrating alongside Palestinians against the colonization of their land and the illegal settlement of Evyatar,” said a fellow ISM volunteer in public a statement. “The situation escalated when the Israeli army began to fire tear gas and live ammunition, forcing us to retreat. We were standing on the road, about 200 meters from the soldiers, with a sniper clearly visible on the roof. Our fellow volunteer was standing a bit further back, near an olive tree with some other activists. Despite this, the army intentionally shot her in the head.”
The Israeli military is claiming that it “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity.” It also says “details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel was pressed on the issue during Monday’s briefing but would not publicly acknowledge that an Israeli soldier was responsible. When asked if he had any doubts that it was an Israeli bullet that killed Eygi, Patel told reporters, “I’m not going to get ahead of the process here.”
Patel offered a similar response when asked why the United States trusted Israel to conduct a fair and thorough investigation. “The record is quite abysmal when it comes to Israel investigating itself on killing of Americans…Rachel Corrie, Omar Asaad, Shireen Abu Akleh..,” Al Quds Said Arikat reminded Patel.
Patel also refused to publicly condemn the killing, telling Arikat that the “death of any American citizen is heartbreaking.”
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters that President Joe Biden had not spoken to Eygi’s family.
“One of the few things Biden has always been good at is connecting with those who’ve lost loved ones,” tweeted Drop Site News’s Ryan Grim. “In this case, he can’t be bothered.”
A growing number of Democratic lawmakers are expressing frustration over the killing and demanding answers.
“I am heartbroken and angry about the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American citizen, in the West Bank today, who was reportedly peacefully protesting against illegal settlement activity,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) in a statement. “The government of Israel must deliver answers immediately and hold the perpetrators of this killing accountable. I will be in close touch with the Biden administration to press the Israeli government for full transparency and accountability. My heart is with Aysenur’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
“My heart goes out to Aysenur’s family, friends, and loved ones,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). “This is a terrible tragedy, and I extend my condolences to all those in mourning today. My office is actively working to gather more information on the events that led to her death.”
“I am very troubled by the reports that she was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers,” she continued. “The Netanyahu government has done nothing to stop settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, often encouraged by right-wing ministers of the Netanyahu government. The killing of an American citizen is a terrible proof point in this senseless war of rising tensions in the region.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib shared a video of Patel refusing to condemn the killing on Twitter and wrote, “Dear Americans, If you are killed by the Israeli government, our country won’t care. No one will be held accountable. It doesn’t matter who you are, Israel can kill Americans and get away with it.”
The navel gazing, the lack of seriousness, and the shameless pandering and subterfuge for Israel on display by this administration is truly sickening.
We know that an Israeli sniper shot yet another innocent American in the friggin’ head. Not just due to witness testimony and medical diagnosis, but due to the response by this White House.
How so? Easy. Who the fuck else in the occupied West Bank could have possibly had a sniper on a roof 250 yards away from these protesters other than Israel who already had the IDF in that exact same spot and their own snipers on roofs? Hamas? Fatah? PIJ? Ronald McFuckinDonald? No. Only Israel had forces in that area, else there would have been all out battle. Which There wasn’t.
Not to mention if an American had been killed by anyone else, say a fellow protester, an angry boyfriend, Hamas, PIJ, or some rogue gang members, the White House wouldn’t be mumbling, umming, stuttering, capitulating, playing dumb, engaging in word games, and couching their statements in vague Orwellian levels of double-speak. They’d be screaming blue bloody murder, launching their own investigations, and calling for immediate justice.
The behavior of this White House is not just an all out admission of Israel’s guilt, it also sickeningly verges on outright US complicity in covering up the crime and sweeping it under the rug. Yet again.
Palestine Talks | In conversation with Ashish Prashar
Political strategist and human rights activist Ashish Prashar discusses why it is necessary for Israel, along with other Western powers, to achieve a settlement with Hamas while – contrary to defining historical moments of Israel-Palestinian relations, such as the Oslo Accords – genuinely honouring Palestinian self-determination.
Drawing from a related an unpublished article he wrote, declined by a reputable mainstream outlet that wrongly views Hamas as “terrorist” and not a legally sound resistance movement, Prashar also describes the kind of dialogue that would have to take place to achieve the settlement, including the absence of “preconditions” that at once disadvantages the interests of Palestinians and further advances the colonial interests and strength of Israel.
https://youtu.be/R7SpVbmodsc?si=FzQlXfJb6z9eh1MO
Are thing improving? This from the Guardian website: