How Israel keeps evading responsiblity for killing Americans

Aysenur Eygi, a 26-year-old Turkish American activist, was killed by an Israeli soldier last Friday while protesting Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank; according to witnesses, she was shot in the head. She’s just the latest American to be killed by the Israeli military with no clear consequences from the US.

The US options for ensuring accountability are somewhat limited. When an ally like Israel kills an American, the US can apply diplomatic pressure, attempt to involve American law enforcement, or alter military and trade relations. So far, the US appears to be focused on the first option, with President Joe Biden calling for “full accountability” for Eygi’s death and calling it “a tragic error.” 

Biden also told reporters Tuesday that the results of a preliminary Israeli investigation indicate that Eygi was killed by a bullet that had ricocheted off the ground and was intended for another person that the IDF called “the key instigator” of the protest, which it referred to as a “violent riot.”

Soldiers were reportedly using tear gas, stun grenades, and live ammunition against the demonstrators, who were part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led group working to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent means. ISM contradicted the Israeli military’s assessment in a Tuesday statement, saying that the ostensible target was too far from Eygi for her to have been hit either directly or indirectly, and accusing the Israeli military of other inconsistencies.

The Washington Post published an investigation Wednesday that also disputes the IDF’s account. According to the Post’s analysis, Eygi was shot and killed half an hour after the most intense part of the protests, and after the demonstration had moved away from where Eygi was standing. 

Eygi’s family put out a statement Wednesday pushing back on Biden’s claim that Eygi’s killing was an accident. “This is not only insensitive and false, it is complicity in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American,” in what the statement refers to as “a targeted attack.”

This is not the first time a US citizen has been killed by the Israeli army

Eygi is the third US citizen to be killed in the West Bank since Israel began its war on Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attacks in southern Israel.

The first was 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq (also known as Tawfic Abdel Jabbar), originally from outside New Orleans. Ajaq and his family had moved to the family’s ancestral village in the West Bank so they could connect with their Palestinian heritage. 

Ajaq was reportedly killed by an off-duty police officer in January while driving in a pickup truck with a friend. (Accounts of the circumstances of the teen’s death differ; relatives initially said he was barbecuing in a field with a friend.) Israeli police claimed that a gun was fired at people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities” on a highway near the village. Three people — the police officer, a soldier, and a civilian — were at the scene according to the report, but it’s not clear which one shot and killed Ajaq. 

Another American-born teenager, Mohammad Khdour, was killed the following month in similar circumstances, which prompted questioning of the two boys’ families by the State Department, according to the Associated Press; it is not clear who killed him or whether Israel has investigated his killing.

Israeli police promised an investigation into Ajaq’s shooting, but the status and results of that investigation aren’t clear. Vox reached out to the Israel Police and COGAT, the Israeli military agency that is responsible for administration in the occupied territories, regarding the status of that investigation, but did not receive a response.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist, was also killed by the Israeli military in 2022 while doing her job and clearly identified as a member of the press. (Israel has killed more than 100 journalists in Gaza since it launched its operation there in October.)

Initially, Israel blamed her death on Palestinian militants, but extensive media reporting and evidence pointed to an Israeli soldier. The Israeli military eventually admitted responsibility for killing her, and the FBI reportedly launched an investigation into her killing. Thus far, that investigation hasn’t resulted in any charges. Vox reached out to the FBI for an update on the investigation but did not receive a response by press time.

The Israeli killing of US civilians goes back at least to 2003, when American activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death in Gaza by an Israeli soldier driving an armored Caterpillar-brand bulldozer as she laid down to prevent it from moving to destroy Palestinian houses. 

At the time, legislators in the House of Representatives put forward a resolution calling for a US-led independent investigation into Corrie’s killing, but it was never brought to a vote. Corrie’s family attempted to pursue the case in the Israeli justice system and even tried to sue Caterpillar, but more than 20 years later, no charges have been brought in relation to her death. 

All told, there are at least 10 US citizens who have been killed by Israelis — most by Israeli police or military — in the past 20 years, including an aid worker with World Central Kitchen who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, according to the Institute for Middle East Understanding. 

“In every case where there’s an American killed or it’s a high-profile killing, the Israeli authorities [say], ‘Okay, we’ll investigate,’ and then that buys them time … weeks or months later, once the pressure and heat is off, they basically just whitewash the whole thing and nobody’s held accountable,” Brad Parker, associate director of policy at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told Vox. 

These American deaths come in addition to settler violence and military raids in the West Bank, which have killed at least 660 Palestinians there since October 7.

In Gaza, at least 40,000 people have been killed since the start of the war, but that number is likely much higher; a recent article in the Lancet medical journal puts that number as high as 186,000.

“We see the double standards that are involved when an Israeli American dual citizen is killed in a horrific way. There’s a humanizing response and the demand for justice from the United States, as there should be to any atrocity committed against a US citizen abroad,” Josh Ruebner, the policy director at IMEU, told Vox. “But why is there this double standard when it comes to American citizens who are murdered by Israel? Why is Israel exceptionalized in this way?”

What can the US do about Americans killed by Israel?

There are two avenues the US can pursue when it comes to seeking recompense for Americans killed by Israel: the diplomatic route and the legal route.

So far, US leaders have favored the former with respect to Eygi’s killing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for instance, offered a pointed statement about Eygi’s killing.

“It has to change,” Blinken said of Israeli military action in the West Bank. “And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.”

There are some legal avenues to pursue justice the US could take as well, Brian Finucane, US policy director at the International Crisis Group, told Vox, including demanding US officials be allowed to participate in a full and impartial investigation into the killing. 

“One way that the US responds is that sometimes they will send the FBI in a supporting role for local law enforcement to help investigate serious crimes against Americans,” he said. “Where the Department of Justice may have jurisdiction, the FBI may also investigate,” provided the other country gives permission for it to operate. Though Israel has reportedly granted this permission in the past, it’s unclear whether the country will do so this time.

The Biden administration’s statements suggest it will look to Israel to investigate Eygi’s killing; however, “there are a lot of reasons to be deeply skeptical of Israel’s investigation of this killing, not just because of Shireen and the killing of other Americans, but the much more regular violence in the West Bank, for which there is little or no accountability,” Finucane said. 

The administration could invoke the Leahy Law, which prohibits US weapons transfers to military units that commit gross violations of human rights. That, however, appears unlikely: The law hasn’t been meaningfully applied to Israel, despite pressure to do so, including from former Sen. Patrick Leahy, after whom the law is named.  

The State Department reportedly recommended several IDF and Israeli police units for sanctioning under the Leahy Law, but so far that has not materialized. 

“There’s just zero appetite to implement existing laws in any meaningful way, and that includes arms export control acts and Leahy Laws,” Parker said.  

Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Patty Murray, both of Washington, sent a letter to Blinken and Biden Wednesday asking whether the US would request a formal investigation into Eygi’s killing and what other steps the administration would take to ensure accountability for her death.