[Salon] The IDF kills another American citizen

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

The IDF kills another American citizen

Summary: the killing of a 26 year old activist in the Occupied West Bank has drawn a stern rebuke from Washington but should she win the White House will Kamala Harris bring a more robust challenge to Israel’s genocidal conduct toward the Palestinians?

On 11 May 2022 in the West Bank city of Jenin an IDF sniper killed the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh with a head shot. At the time and as we noted in our 16 May 2022 newsletter the Israelis initially claimed it was “armed Palestinians” who were responsible. Even though that claim fell apart within hours of her murder, the IDF stuck to shifting variations that they were not responsible before months later admitting that there was a “high possibility” one of their soldiers had fired the killing shot. No action was taken against the sniper.

One week ago on 6 September in the West Bank town of Beita another American citizen was shot and killed in eerily similar circumstances. 26 year old Aysenur Eygi who held Turkish and American citizenship was in her first visit to the Occupied Territories, there to serve she told fellow activists as a “protective presence” for Palestinians under daily assault from roving bands of settler vigilantes.

The IDF line this time was to acknowledge it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “ indirectly and unintentionally” hit while a sniper was aiming for “the key instigator” of what it claimed was a “violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks toward security forces at the Beita Junction,” the implication being that the violence was ongoing and IDF soldiers were defending themselves against it.

Yesterday the Washington Post published the results of their investigation into Eygi’s death which debunks the IDF narrative:

Eygi was shot more than a half-hour after the height of confrontations in Beita, and some 20 minutes after protesters had moved down the main road — more than 200 yards away from Israeli forces. A Palestinian teenager, who witnesses say was standing about 20 yards from Eygi, was wounded by Israeli fire; the IDF would not say if he was a target.

Both President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken decried the killing. However Biden softened his criticism by saying the bullet “ricocheted off the ground” taking that claim from the quick investigation conducted by the IDF. Blinken was more forceful:

No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for freely expressing their views. 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. Now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It's not acceptable.

A Washington Post investigation found that Aysenur Eygi was shot more than a half-hour after the height of confrontations in Beita

In Tuesday’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump no questions were asked and no mention made of the killings of the two Americans. Indeed in the 90 minutes of debate the Gaza war and US relations with Israel received barely five minutes of comment from Trump and Harris.

Of the two, Harris was by far the most cogent and clear. She reiterated comments that she had made in December of last year that “Israel has the right to defend itself but it matters how.” After denouncing the 7 October Hamas attack she went on to say:

Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end and end immediately. We need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out….We must chart a course for a two-state solution giving security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians.

At that point Trump who had been glowering into the camera shot his eyebrows up. Harris went on to restate her support for Israel “particularly as it relates to Iran and its proxies.” She concluded by reiterating “we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza and where the Palestinian people have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.”

Trump’s riposte that “if I were president it never would have happened” gave Harris the split screen opportunity to use the facial _expression_ that says “oh really?” as the former president barraged on, claiming that she “hates Israel and she hates the Arab population because the whole place is gonna get blown up.” He meandered into the Ukraine war, a blunder which Harris quickly pounced on to remind viewers of how Trump had called Putin’s invasion “brilliant.”

While pundits assess just how much Harris gained and Trump surrendered in what virtually everyone save Donald believes he lost badly, what hard truths can be taken from Harris’ comments about Israel and Palestine?

Sceptics will say that the conflict and the Middle East in general are not high on the White House agenda. They will point to the way that Netanyahu has ignored all entreaties from Washington and continued with his genocidal war, to the truth that the US decries the slaughter of civilians on the one hand while providing the Israelis with the firepower to do so on the other.

They will say that nothing will change with Harris in the White House. That could well be the case but it is a long time since a US politician has spoken with such clarity in support of the two-state solution and with a degree of compassion for the Palestinians that Biden has never displayed.

The full Trump-Harris debate is here; the questions and comments on Israel/Palestine begin at 1:00:07

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