Biden, Harris Seek 'Full Accountability' after Killing of US Citizen in West Bank

US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
TT

Biden, Harris Seek 'Full Accountability' after Killing of US Citizen in West Bank

US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called the Israeli military's killing of an American activist in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "unacceptable" and said Israel must do more to make sure it never happens again.

Israel has taken responsibility for the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who was killed while taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank. Biden said the US government expects continued access to the criminal investigation into the shooting.
"There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again," Biden said in a statement.
Harris said in a separate statement that no one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest.
"The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) personnel in the West Bank," she said.
Eygi, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead on Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers. Israel has said her death was accidental.

For her 26th birthday in July, Eygi gathered friends for a bonfire at one of her favorite places, a sandy beach in Seattle where green-and-white ferries cruise across the dark, flat water and osprey fish overhead.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people traveled to the same beach in grief, love and anger to mourn her.

As the sun set, turning the sky on the horizon a pale orange, friends recalled Eygi as open, engaging, funny and devoted. The crowd spilled beyond a large rectangle of small black, red, green and white Palestinian flags staked in the sand to mark the venue for the vigil.
Many attendees wore traditional checked scarves — keffiyehs — in support of the Palestinian cause and carried photographs of Eygi in her graduation cap. They laid roses, sunflowers or carnations at a memorial where battery-operated candles spelled out her name in the sand.

Eygi's relatives called on Biden and Harris to speak to the family directly and order an independent investigation into her shooting.
To call her death an accident "is complicity in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American. ... Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack," the family said in a statement.
Democratic US Senator Patty Murray and Representative Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter to Biden on Wednesday and requested "an immediate, transparent, credible and thorough" independent US investigation.



Israel Will Listen to US but Make Own Decisions, Netanyahu’s Office Says

 27 September 2024, US, New York: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks at the 79th General Debate of the UN General Assembly. (dpa)
27 September 2024, US, New York: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks at the 79th General Debate of the UN General Assembly. (dpa)
TT

Israel Will Listen to US but Make Own Decisions, Netanyahu’s Office Says

 27 September 2024, US, New York: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks at the 79th General Debate of the UN General Assembly. (dpa)
27 September 2024, US, New York: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks at the 79th General Debate of the UN General Assembly. (dpa)

Israel will listen to the United States but will decide its actions according to its own national interest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil, targets.

The statement came amid expectations that Israel will strike in retaliation for Iran's missile attack on Israel on Oct 1. That attack followed rapidly spiraling conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

Citing two officials familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said Netanyahu had told the Biden administration that he was willing to strike military rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran, suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war.

The retaliatory action would be calibrated to avoid the perception of "political interference in the US elections," the Washington Post quoted one official as saying.

"‏We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests," Netanyahu's office said, in a statement that was also quoted in the Washington Post article.

Biden has said he would not support an attack on Iran's nuclear sites and oil markets have been on edge over the prospect of an Israeli strike against Iranian oil fields.