Israeli soldiers shot and killed American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi on Friday while she was protesting an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, according to local media reports.
The killing of 26-year-old Eygi, who lived in the Seattle area, immediately prompted concerns that the United States government would not respond appropriately and seek accountability for her killing.
Earlier this year, two 17-year-old Palestinian Americans were killed in the West Bank: Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, a Louisiana native who was shot in January by an off-duty Israeli officer and a settler, and Mohammad Khdour, a high school senior from Florida who was shot in the head by an Israeli gunman several weeks later. In both cases, the U.S. government decried the killings but have yet to launch investigations.
“Not all Americans are equal when it comes to dying in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told The Intercept that such muted responses from the U.S government after the killings of American citizens in the occupied West Bank has become de facto policy.
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Jonah Valdez is a journalist and poet based in Los Angeles. As a general assignment reporter, Jonah has covered climate-driven wildfires, mass shootings, environmental justice issues, criminal, legal issues, social justice movements, pop culture and the Hollywood industry. His current writing is interested in tracing the effects of neocolonial policies in a postcolonial world. He previously was a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and the Southern California News Group. His work can also be found in The Guardian, Voice of San Diego and The San Diego Union-Tribune.
