Secretary of State Antony Blinken slams IDF shooting of activist during a violent riot as “unprovoked and unjustified.”
By The IDF Club
The Israeli military officially took responsibility for the fatal shooting of a Turkish-American activist during a riot in a Palestinian Authority-administered town last week.
Turkish-born Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who also held American citizenship, was killed by “indirect and unintended IDF fire, which was aimed at a main instigator” during clashes between soldiers and Palestinians, the IDF said in a statement.
“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 statement continued, adding that the military “expresses its deepest regret over the death.”
Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which encourages foreign activists to travel to conflict zones, where they engage in direct confrontations with Israeli soldiers.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed the IDF over Eygi’s shooting, asserting that it was “unprovoked and unjustified.”
Blinken then demanded that the Israeli military implement “fundamental changes to the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement.”
He added that “it’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we will be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.”
President Joe Biden told media that the killing “apparently… was an accident — [theb bullet] ricocheted off the ground, and [Eygi] got hit by accident.”
Egyi’s family claimed, without providing evidence, that the IDF had intentionally killed her.
This cannot be misconstrued as anything except a deliberate, targeted and precise attack by the military against an unarmed civilian,” they said in a statement.
Rachel Corrie, another American ISM volunteer, was killed by an IDF bulldozer in the Gaza Strip after she was repeatedly warned that she was endangering her life by refusing to evacuate a home in the coastal enclave.
An Israeli inquiry found that IDF troops believed Corrie had left the area, and that it was impossible for the driver of the bulldozer to have seen her. Anti-Israel activists have continue to insist that Corrie’s killing was intentional.
