Washington, DC – The deadly taking pictures of a 26-year-old Turkish American protester within the occupied West Financial institution has sparked recent requires the US to demand accountability from Israel’s armed forces.
However advocates say justice for US residents killed by Israeli troopers has lengthy confirmed elusive, with many accusing the administration of President Joe Biden of making use of a double normal to Israel and its navy.
Friday’s taking pictures claimed the lifetime of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a twin US and Turkish citizen who was collaborating in an indication in opposition to an unlawful Israeli settlement on Mount Sbeih in Beita, a city south of Nablus.
Throughout the protest, witnesses mentioned an Israeli soldier shot Ezgi Eygi within the head, and she or he collapsed in an olive grove. She later died of her wounds at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was among the many first US officers to reply to the killing, and she or he referred to as on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “do one thing to avoid wasting lives”.
Blinken himself was requested in regards to the killing at a information briefing later within the day, the place a journalist pressed him on the navy support the US continues to offer to Israel.
“I simply wish to lengthen my deepest condolences, condolences of the US authorities, to the household of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi,” Blinken responded. “We deplore this tragic loss.”
He mentioned the Biden administration would “collect the info” and “act on it” as needed.
“I’ve no increased precedence than the protection and safety of Americans, wherever they’re,” Blinken added, echoing the same assertion made by US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew.
.@SecBlinken: Do one thing to avoid wasting lives! https://t.co/2g4hKCa330
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 6, 2024
Elusive justice?
However advocates have questioned the US authorities’s dedication to American security abroad, notably within the occupied Palestinian territories.
They pointed to a string of high-profile killings by Israeli forces that they are saying Washington has not sought accountability for.
Earlier this yr, as an illustration, an off-duty Israeli police officer and a settler opened fireplace and killed 17-year-old US citizen Tawfiq Ajaq close to his ancestral village of al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya within the West Financial institution. An investigation into the case is ongoing.
In 2022, an Israeli sniper additionally shot US citizen and Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was reporting on the time within the West Financial institution’s Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli navy later admitted its soldier fired the deadly bullet however deemed the killing an accident and declined to punish any particular person concerned. Whereas the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an inquiry almost two years in the past, it too has supplied no updates or decision.
That very same yr, 78-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad died after being detained by Israeli troopers at a checkpoint close to his dwelling in Jiljilya. The US in the end declined to minimize funding to the troopers’ unit, regardless of its observe document of abuses.
Different examples stretch again greater than a decade. In 2010, teenager Furkan Dogan, one other twin US and Turkish citizen, was killed when Israeli commandos boarded a ship making an attempt to ship support to Gaza.
And in 2003, an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer crushed Washington resident Rachel Corrie to demise as she protested the destruction of Palestinian houses.
Her identify is Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, and she or he’s not the primary US citizen to be killed by the IDF while peacefully protesting Israel in Palestine, or while merely doing her job there.
From Rachel Corrie to Shireen Abu Akleh, this unhappy listing is rising. https://t.co/yOxTAxNpNq
— Monica Marks (@MonicaLMarks) September 6, 2024
White Home response
Within the case of Friday’s killing, the Biden administration indicated it could depend on Israel to look into the incident.
“We’ve reached out to the federal government of Israel to ask for extra info and request an investigation into the incident,” White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesman Sean Savett mentioned.
He added that the administration was “deeply disturbed by the tragic demise”.
For its half, the Israeli navy issued a press release saying its forces had “responded with fireplace towards a essential instigator of violent exercise who hurled rocks on the forces who posed a risk to them”.
It mentioned it was wanting into studies “{that a} overseas nationwide was killed because of photographs fired within the space”.
Israel is likely one of the US’s closest allies within the Center East, and critics worry that has led to a reticence in the direction of pursuing justice in instances during which its troopers look like at fault.
On Friday, as an illustration, the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) underscored the prolonged delays in searching for accountability.
“For years, American Muslim and Palestinian-American organisations have been calling for the Division of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to handle crimes in opposition to Palestinian-People killed by Israeli authorities and adjoining actors,” Robert McCaw, CAIR’s authorities affairs director, wrote in an open letter.
A double normal
The US was the primary nation to recognise Israel as a rustic in 1948, and it has maintained tight relations with its authorities ever since.
Washington supplies $3.8bn in navy support to the nation every year. That quantity has elevated since Israel’s battle in Gaza erupted in October, with the Biden administration pledging further weapons and assist.
The battle began with an assault on southern Israel by the armed group Hamas. About 250 individuals had been taken captive through the assaults, and a few have since been killed in Gaza.
Amongst them was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old US citizen. Advocates on Friday questioned whether or not the Biden administration would pledge to hunt the identical accountability in Ezgi Eygi’s case because it had in Goldberg-Polin’s.
“There was — rightfully — outrage and disappointment when an American hostage was killed final week in Gaza,” Yohan Lieberman, the co-founder of IfNotNow, an American Jewish advocacy organisation, wrote on the social media platform X.
However Lieberman puzzled whether or not the identical outrage would greet Ezgi Eygi’s demise. “Will [Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris] even acknowledge her?” he requested.
Political analyst Omar Baddar additionally pointed to the general public statements Biden made after Goldberg-Polin’s killing.
“Keep in mind: when Hersh Goldberg-Polin was killed, Biden mentioned ‘Hamas leaders can pay for these crimes.’ We’re about to get one other demonstration of who can kill People with impunity,” Baddar wrote.
Biden had not but responded to the killing as of Friday afternoon.
Open an FBI investigation and search extradition of the assassin. #dosomething https://t.co/3tkibOtO5a
— Mike S. Omer-Man (@MikeOmerMan) September 6, 2024
What does accountability seem like?
A number of advocates took to social media to demand concrete steps be taken to convey Ezgi Eygi’s killer to justice.
“Open an FBI investigation and search extradition of the assassin,” wrote Michael Omer-Man, a director of analysis on the Washington, DC-based advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).
CAIR, in the meantime, referred to as on the Justice Division to analyze and prosecute all “Israeli officers, troopers and unlawful settlers” chargeable for killing not simply Ezgi Eygi however different People just like the journalist Abu Akleh.
It famous the division unveiled fees of terrorism, homicide conspiracy and sanctions evasion earlier this week in opposition to the leaders of Hamas.
“Now that the Division of Justice has demonstrated its potential and willingness to prosecute Hamas crimes in opposition to Israelis and Israeli-People within the Center East, it’s crucial that the Justice Division convey the identical uncompromising authorized rigor to bear in prosecuting crimes dedicated in opposition to Palestinian People by Israeli troopers and settlers,” McCaw, CAIR’s authorities affairs director, mentioned.
“The DOJ should act swiftly and decisively to uphold justice for all Americans, no matter their ethnic background.”
Omer-Man went one step additional, calling for the US to hunt accountability for all human rights abuses, regardless of whom they’re directed at.
He famous a 13-year-old Palestinian lady had additionally been killed by Israeli forces close to Nablus in a separate incident on Friday.
“Only a reminder to not base the worth of a life or the criminality of taking that life primarily based on what passport the sufferer may be carrying,” he mentioned.
