The Intercept commented on the shooting death of American human rights activist Aisha Noor Ezgi Eji (26 years old) by Israeli soldiers, noting that there are concerns that the United States government will not respond appropriately to this incident and will not seek to hold Israel accountable for the killing of its citizen.
The website explained – in a report by Jonah Foldes – that Iggy was participating in a protest against the construction of an illegal settlement in the West Bank when Israeli soldiers shot her in the head, noting that two young Americans of Palestinian origin were killed before her in the West Bank: Tawfiq Abdul-Jabbar from Louisiana, and Mohammed Khaddour from Florida.
Such muted responses by the US government after the killing of American citizens in the occupied West Bank have become de facto policy, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told the website.
“The policy of the U.S. government, both executive and legislative, is that not all Americans are equal when it comes to dying in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians,” she added. “Israeli Americans deserve to fight for accountability, but Palestinian Americans and the Americans who stand with them do not.”
The site recalled the killing of American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli armored bulldozer in 2003, as well as the killing of prominent Palestinian-American Tel Aviv Tribune journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, whose forensic evidence showed that her killing was deliberate, but the FBI investigation into her death is still pending with American officials.
“We have a president who says if you hurt Americans, you will pay a price,” Friedman said, referring to comments made by US President Joe Biden after three American soldiers were killed in a drone strike in Jordan. “But that’s not the case if the Americans are of Palestinian origin or sympathetic to the Palestinians.”
The website reported that Eiji, an American of Turkish origin, was in the Beita area south of Nablus, with the “Faz’a” campaign, which works to support Palestinian farmers and protect them from the violence of the Israeli army and settlers. The Israeli soldiers responded to the protest by firing live ammunition, sound bombs and tear gas, killing Eiji and insulting a young Palestinian man who was injured by shrapnel in the thigh, according to the official media of the Palestinian Authority.
An Israeli military spokesman said in a statement that its soldiers were in the area near Beita on Friday and shot the “main instigator of the violent activity” who allegedly threw stones at the soldiers. “The military is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of gunfire in the area,” the statement added.
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said he was aware of Ege’s death Friday morning in a statement posted on social media, saying, “We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens.”
Khaled Elgindy, director of the Middle East Institute, said that Iggy’s killing would have received far less attention if she had not been an American citizen, adding that the Israeli military’s targeting of unarmed Palestinian protesters in the West Bank with lethal force is routine and “alarm bells should have been ringing long ago.”
Khaled El-Gendy called on the US government to ask serious questions about Israel’s rules of engagement and whether they comply with international law. “Instead of answering these questions, the administration will do what it has done in the past, which is try to hide the matter and provide cover for any Israeli explanation whatever it may be,” he added.
The International Solidarity Movement condemned the killing, describing it as “another example of decades of impunity granted to the Israeli government and military with the support of the US and European governments,” and said that Iji was the 18th protester to be killed during protests in Beita since 2020.
Friedman said she hoped the United States would respond to Iji’s killing with equality, adding that America had sent a clear message to Israel and others in the world that “if Americans are politically on the wrong side of the conflict, they are not really Americans and we really don’t care about them.”
