U.S. urges change by IDF after American activist killed in West Bank

Sept. 10, 2024 Updated 11:39 AM PT

WASHINGTON — In an unusually harsh rebuke, the Biden administration on Tuesday demanded “fundamental changes” in the way the Israeli military conducts often-deadly operations in the occupied West Bank, following the killing of an American activist supporting Palestinian villagers.

Israel, after a preliminary investigation, concluded that it was “highly likely” its forces accidentally killed Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old recent graduate of the University of Washington participating in her first West Bank protest. Eyewitnesses disputed that the killing was accidental.

“Her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said. “No one — no one — should be shot and killed for attending a protest.”

His remarks, made during a visit to London, were a departure from a more conciliatory tone the administration normally takes regarding Israeli actions, and may reflect a waning in patience over what many critics see as the country’s heavy-handed military tactics.

“In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement,” Blinken said.

He went on to catalog reports of Israeli security forces “looking the other way” when Jewish settlers attack Palestinian villagers and other examples of “excessive force” used by Israeli military and police against Palestinians.

Eygi, who was born in Turkey and raised in the U.S., was shot in the head Friday at the site where she and other foreigners were demonstrating on behalf of Palestinians near the West Bank city of Nablus. The Palestinians were being threatened by Israeli settlers attempting to seize their land and drive them from their homes.

She was the second U.S. citizen killed by Israeli forces in two years.

Veteran Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in 2022 while reporting on an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The Israeli military, months later, apologized, citing the “high probability” she was shot by a soldier who mistakenly targeted her. No one faced criminal penalties.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said Eygi was apparently shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces who were aiming not at her but “at the key instigator of the riot.” Some of Egyi’s companions dispute that riots were ongoing when she was shot and say that clashes between Palestinians and Israelis had by then calmed down.

The military expressed “its deepest regret” for the killing.

Human rights groups have long denounced what they describe as a systemic lack of accountability in Israel’s killing of Palestinians and others during demonstrations. Soldiers very rarely face prosecution, even in instances in which error is acknowledged.

Israel’s position is that it conducts thorough investigations of any allegation that its forces were involved in unlawful killings. It routinely cites the need for near-instantaneous decision-making when troops believe themselves to be under threat.

Tuesday’s statement from the Israeli army drew a swift and angry response from Eygi’s family and from the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist group with which she was volunteering.

Eyewitnesses have said that the shooting of took place about half an hour after a clash between Palestinian protesters and army troops who fired tear gas and live ammunition, and that Eygi and other foreign protesters were standing peacefully about 200 yards away from the site of that earlier confrontation.

One witness, Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, said the two shots fired by soldiers who had taken up a position on a nearby rooftop appeared aimed at Eygi and her companions — not, as the army claimed, at a “violent instigator.”

She was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the head after being rushed to a hospital in Nablus. On Monday, Palestinian mourners marched in tribute, bearing her flag-wrapped body aloft.

In its statement, her family said it was “deeply offended” by the Israeli military finding that the killing was unintentional, and cited an “appalling” disregard for human life.

A May graduate of the University of Washington, Eygi had arrived in the West Bank only days before the shooting. Protests against settlement expansion have been taking place for years outside the Jewish settlement of Evyatar, where villagers say the settlers have violently appropriated private land.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, with increasing Israeli raids, attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and by Palestinian militants on Israelis. More than 690 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials. Meanwhile, U.S.-led talks to end the Gaza conflict have dragged on, with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar blamed for throwing obstacles onto the path to a cease-fire.

The Biden administration has sanctioned several individual Jewish settlers believed responsible for some of the worst violence, or the organizations supporting them, and barred them from traveling to the United States. But they enjoy strong political support from the most radical members of the Netanyahu government, which critics say fuels their impunity.

But Blinken’s comments Tuesday seemed to build on further change, at least in tone.

“Even accepting [the results of the investigation] at face value, it’s clear that there are serious issues that need to be dealt with,” he said. “And we will insist that they be dealt with.”

Wilkinson reported from Washington and King from Jerusalem.