Davin News Server

Washington, DC – The fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Turkish American
protester in the occupied West Bank has sparked fresh calls for the
United States to demand accountability from Israel’s armed forces.

But advocates say justice for US citizens killed by Israeli soldiers
has long proven elusive, with many accusing the administration of
President Joe Biden of applying a double standard to Israel and its
military.

Friday’s shooting claimed the life of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a
dual US and Turkish citizen who was taking part in a demonstration
against an illegal Israeli settlement on Mount Sbeih in Beita, a town
south of Nablus.

During the protest, witnesses said an Israeli soldier shot Ezgi Eygi
in the head, and she collapsed in an olive grove. She later died of
her wounds at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.

Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was among the first
US officials to respond to the killing, and she called on Secretary of
State Antony Blinken to “do something to save lives”.

Blinken himself was asked about the killing at a news briefing later
in the day, where a journalist pressed him on the military aid the US
continues to provide to Israel.

“I just want to extend my deepest condolences, condolences of the
United States government, to the family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi,” Blinken
responded. “We deplore this tragic loss.”

He said the Biden administration would “gather the facts” and “act on
it” as necessary.

“I have no higher priority than the safety and protection of American
citizens, wherever they are,” Blinken added, echoing a similar
statement made by US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew.

But advocates have questioned the US government’s commitment to
American safety overseas, particularly in the occupied Palestinian
territories.

They pointed to a string of high-profile killings by Israeli forces
that they say Washington has not sought accountability for.

Earlier this year, for instance, an off-duty Israeli police officer
and a settler opened fire and killed 17-year-old US citizen Tawfiq
Ajaq 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 US citizen and Al Jazeera
journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was reporting at the time in the
West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp.

The Israeli military later admitted its soldier fired the fatal bullet
but deemed the killing an accident and declined to punish any
individual involved. While the US Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) opened an inquiry nearly two years ago, it too has offered no
updates or resolution.

That same year, 78-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad died after
being detained by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near his home in
Jiljilya. The US ultimately declined to cut funding to the soldiers’
unit, despite its track record of abuses.

Other examples stretch back more than a decade. In 2010, teenager
Furkan Dogan, another dual US and Turkish citizen, was killed when
Israeli commandos boarded a ship trying to deliver aid to Gaza.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/6/advocates-demand-justice-after-us-protester-killed-in-israeli-gunfire