Biden, Harris assail IDF over killing of American in West Bank, demand accountability
US president appears to reject family’s demand for independent probe, noting full access to findings, while VP notes answers needed, backs call for military reforms
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris expressed outrage Wednesday over the fatal shooting of an American protester by Israeli troops in the West Bank last week, calling for full accountability and demanding Jerusalem take steps to prevent future incidents.
Dual Turkish-American national Aysenur Eygi, 26, was shot dead Friday while taking part in a march against Israeli settlement activity in the northern West Bank. On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said the activist had in all probability been mistakenly hit by troops aiming at another figure and expressed regret over the killing.
“There must be full accountability,” Biden said in a statement released early on Wednesday. “And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”
The president said he was “outraged and deeply saddened” by Eygi’s death, calling the shooting “totally unacceptable.”
A separate statement released hours later by Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, sharpened the White House’s message, saying the killing “raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF personnel in the West Bank,” echoing a demand from Secretary of State Antony Blinken a day earlier that the army reform its operating procedures.
“The killing of Aysenur Eygi is a horrific tragedy that never should have happened,” Harris said. “No one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest.”
Biden in his statement backed the initial Israeli finding, describing the death as “the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation,” and appeared to push back against demands from Eygi’s family that the White House order an independent probe into the killing rather than rely on Israel.
“The US government has had full access to Israel’s preliminary investigation, and expects continued access as the investigation continues, so that we can have confidence in the result,” he said in the statement.
That position was largely echoed by Harris, though she omitted any mention of Israel granting the US access to the probe. She also skirted allegations of Palestinian instigation during the confrontation with troops Friday.
“We will continue to press the government of Israel for answers,” she said.
On Tuesday, Biden told reporters he believed the killing had been accidental. “It ricocheted off the ground, and she got hit by accident,” he said.
The statements from Biden and Harris were published hours after a Palestinian driving a fuel tanker crashed his truck into a person standing at a West Bank bus stop in an apparent ramming attack, and as Israeli settlers allegedly set fire to a Palestinian olive grove, underlining months of heightened violence amid fears of a wider conflagration.
Both the president and the vice president vowed in their Wednesday comments to push policies holding Israelis and Palestinians accountable for stoking violence and not facilitating peace.
“The violence in the West Bank has been going on for too long,” Biden said. “Violent extremist Israeli settlers are uprooting Palestinians from their homes. Palestinian terrorists are sending car bombs to kill civilians.”
Eygi was an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, which describes itself as “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation” with nonviolent tactics. She was attending one of the group’s regular demonstrations at Beita Junction, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, when clashes broke out between troops and protesters, according to the Israeli military and an Israeli activist who attended the march.
“The incident occurred during a violent gathering of dozens of Palestinian suspects, who burned tires and threw stones at forces at Beita Junction,” the IDF said Tuesday, though the activist group denied protesters engaged in any violent activity.
Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli participating in Friday’s protest, said dozens of Palestinians and international activists had hurled rocks at troops following a communal prayer on a hillside outside Beita, drawing tear gas and live ammunition from the soldiers. He said Eygi was shot by troops posted on a nearby roof about a half hour after the clashes had died down.
Speaking in London on Tuesday, Blinken assailed the killing as “unprovoked and unjustified.” He called for “fundamental changes” to how the IDF operates in the West Bank, including its rules of engagement, accusing the military of turning a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians while using excessive force against protesters.
“It’s not acceptable,” said Blinken. “It has to change. And we will be making that clear to the seniormost members of the Israeli government.”
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials other than the army. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley on Wednesday, visiting hours after the IDF said it had carried out an airstrike on a terror cell in the area.
Three Israeli men were killed in a terrorist shooting attack at the Allenby Bridge Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Sunday morning.
