President Biden Demands Accountability for Killing of Turkish American Protester in West Bank
US President Joe Biden called for “full accountability” on Wednesday after Israeli security forces killed Turkish American protestor Aysenur Eygi during a demonstration against settlement expansion in the West Bank last week.
“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi,” President Biden said, describing the incident as “the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation.”
The president affirmed that Israel “has acknowledged its responsibility” for the incident but insisted that [Israel] must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old Turkish American and recent graduate of the University of Washington, was volunteering with a political nonprofit when she was shot and killed last Friday near Beita, a village known for Israeli settler violence.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), with which Eygi was volunteering, stated that Friday’s protest was peaceful and that Israeli forces shot her directly. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have denied this claim.
The incident has drawn harsh criticism from top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris, who stated that it “raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF personnel in the West Bank.”
At a Tuesday news conference, a frustrated Blinken stated that the killing was “unprovoked and unjustified” and emphasized that peaceful protests should never result in such violence.
“Now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government,” Blinken added.
