Washington, DC – The shooting death of a 26-year-old Turkish-American protester in the occupied West Bank has sparked renewed calls for the United States to hold Israeli forces accountable.
But human rights advocates say justice for American citizens killed by Israeli soldiers has long proven elusive, with many accusing President Joe Biden’s administration of applying a double standard to Israel and its military.
Friday’s shooting killed Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a U.S.-Turkish citizen who was taking part in a protest against an illegal Israeli settlement on Mount Sbeih in Beita, a town south of Nablus.
According to witnesses, an Israeli soldier shot Ezgi Eygi in the head during the demonstration. She collapsed in an olive grove. She died of her injuries at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was among the first U.S. officials to respond to the killing, calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “do something to save lives.”
Blinken himself was asked about the killing at a press briefing later in the day, where a reporter asked him about the military aid the United States continues to provide to Israel.
“I just want to express my deepest condolences, the deepest condolences of the United States government, to the family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi,” Blinken responded. “We mourn this tragic loss.”
He said the Biden administration would “gather the facts” and “act accordingly” if necessary.
“I have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens, wherever they are,” Blinken added, echoing a similar statement made by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew.
.@SecBlinken:Do something to save lives!
– Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 6, 2024
An elusive justice?
But human rights advocates have questioned the U.S. government’s commitment to the safety of Americans abroad, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territories.
They highlighted a series of high-profile killings by Israeli forces for which they said Washington has failed to seek accountability.
Earlier this year, for example, an off-duty Israeli police officer and a settler opened fire and killed Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen, near his ancestral village of al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya in the West Bank. An investigation into the case is ongoing.
In 2022, an Israeli sniper also shot and killed American citizen and Tel Aviv Tribune journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was reporting from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank at the time.
The Israeli military later admitted that its soldier fired the fatal bullet, but ruled the killing an accident and refused to punish those involved. The FBI opened an investigation nearly two years ago, but has also provided no update or resolution.
That same year, Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American, died after being stopped by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near his home in Jiljilya. The United States ultimately refused to cut funding to the unit of soldiers, despite its history of abuse.
Other examples date back more than a decade. In 2010, teenager Furkan Dogan, also a US-Turkish citizen, was killed when Israeli commandos boarded a ship attempting to deliver aid to Gaza.
In 2003, an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer crushed Washington resident Rachel Corrie to death as she protested the destruction of Palestinian homes.
Her name is Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, she is 26 years old and she is not the first American citizen to be killed by the Israeli army while peacefully protesting against Israel in Palestine, or simply doing her job there.
From Rachel Corrie to Shireen Abu Akleh, this sad list goes on.
— Monica Marks (@MonicaLMarks) September 6, 2024
White House Reaction
In the case of Friday’s killing, the Biden administration has indicated that it is counting on Israel to investigate the incident.
“We have reached out to the Israeli government to request further information and to request an investigation into the incident,” White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.
He added that the administration was “deeply troubled by this tragic death.”
For its part, the Israeli army issued a statement saying that its forces had “responded with fire against one of the main instigators of the violent activity who had thrown stones at the forces that posed a threat to them.”
She said she was investigating reports that “a foreign national was killed following gunfire in the area.”
Israel is one of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East, and its critics fear that this could lead to a reluctance to seek justice in cases where its soldiers appear to be at fault.
On Friday, for example, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) highlighted the long delays in seeking accountability.
“For years, American Muslim and Palestinian-American organizations have called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to address crimes against Palestinian-Americans killed by the Israeli government and adjacent actors,” wrote Robert McCaw, CAIR’s director of government affairs, in an open letter.
A double standard
The United States was the first country to recognize Israel as a nation in 1948, and it has maintained close relations with its government ever since.
Washington provides $3.8 billion in military aid to the country each year. That amount has increased since Israel began its war on Gaza in October, with the Biden administration promising additional weapons and support.
The war began with an attack by the Hamas armed group on southern Israel. About 250 people were captured in the attacks, and some have since been killed in Gaza.
Among them was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen. Human rights advocates questioned Friday whether the Biden administration would commit to seeking the same accountability in Ezgi Eygi’s case as it did in Goldberg-Polin’s.
“There was – rightly – outrage and sadness when an American hostage was killed last week in Gaza,” Yohan Lieberman, co-founder of IfNotNow, a US Jewish rights organization, wrote on the social media platform X.
But Lieberman wondered whether Ezgi Eygi’s death would spark the same outrage. “Will Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at least honor her?” he asked.
Political analyst Omar Baddar also highlighted public statements Biden made after Goldberg-Polin’s murder.
“Remember: When Hersh Goldberg-Polin was killed, Biden said, ‘The Hamas leadership will pay for these crimes.’ We are about to witness another demonstration of who can kill Americans with impunity,” Baddar wrote.
As of Friday afternoon, Biden had not yet responded to the killing.
Open an FBI investigation and request the extradition of the murderer. #dosomething
— Mike S. Omer-Man (@MikeOmerMan) September 6, 2024
What does accountability look like?
Several victims’ rights advocates have taken to social media to demand that concrete steps be taken to bring Ezgi Eygi’s killer to justice.
“Open an FBI investigation and request the extradition of the murderer,” wrote Michael Omer-Man, research director at the Washington-based advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).
CAIR, for its part, called on the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute all “Israeli officials, soldiers and illegal settlers” responsible for the murder of not only Ezgi Eygi but also other Americans such as journalist Abu Akleh.
He noted that the department earlier this week unsealed charges of terrorism, murder conspiracy and sanctions evasion against Hamas leaders.
“Now that the Justice Department has demonstrated its ability and willingness to prosecute Hamas crimes against Israelis and Israeli-Americans in the Middle East, it is imperative that it exercise the same uncompromising legal rigor in prosecuting crimes committed against Palestinian-Americans by Israeli soldiers and settlers,” said McCaw, CAIR’s government affairs director.
“The Justice Department must act swiftly and decisively to ensure justice for all American citizens, regardless of race.”
Omer-Man went even further, calling on the United States to demand accountability for all human rights violations, regardless of who is targeted.
He noted that a 13-year-old Palestinian girl was also killed by Israeli forces near Nablus in a separate incident on Friday.
“I just want to remind you that the value of a life or the criminality of the act of taking the victim’s life should not be based on the passport that the victim holds,” he said.