Biden condemns ‘totally unacceptable’ death of American activist killed by IDF in the West Bank

By Betsy Klein, Nikki Carvajal and Michael Williams, CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned the death of American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was killed at a protest last week in the occupied West Bank by Israeli soldiers.

“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the shooting “is totally unacceptable.”

Biden called for “full accountability” for her death after Israel “has acknowledged its responsibility.”

“A preliminary investigation has indicated that it was the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation,” Biden said. “The US government has had full access to Israel’s preliminary investigation, and expects continued access as the investigation continues, so that we can have confidence in the result. We will continue to stay in close contact with Israeli and Palestinian authorities regarding the circumstances that led to Aysenur’s death.”

Israel, he added, “must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”

Vice President Kamala Harris called for “full accountability” in the matter.

“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 personnel in the West Bank,” she said in a statement.

Eygi, who was born in Turkey, was a recent graduate of the University of Washington and had been volunteering with the same pro-Palestinian activist group as Rachel Corrie, a US citizen killed in 2003 while attempting to stop an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza.

Israeli troops and settlers have killed nearly 700 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, whose figures do not distinguish between militants and civilians.

This statement comes just hours after Eygi’s partner, Hamid Ali, issued a sharply worded statement criticizing the White House.

“The White House has not spoken with us. For four days, we have waited for President Biden to pick up the phone and do the right thing: To call us, offer his condolences, and let us know that he is ordering an independent investigation of the killing of Ayşenur,” Ali said.

In his first public comments on Eygi’s death, Biden on Tuesday had described the killing as an apparent accident, citing a preliminary Israeli investigation. Israel claimed that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire” on Friday.

“We’re finding more detail,” Biden told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday. “Apparently, it was an accident. It ricocheted off the ground and it – (she) got hit by accident, but we’re working that out now.”

The IDF in an earlier statement said Eygi was killed amid a “violent riot,” while the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), with whom Eygi had been volunteering, described the September 6 protest as peaceful.

US officials have sharply criticized Israel for the death of Eygi, who was shot dead at a protest. Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said her death was “unprovoked and unjustified” and called for Israel to make “fundamental changes” to how it operates in the West Bank.

“No one, no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for expressing their views,” he said. “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.”

This story and its headline have been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.