Blinken: Israel Needs to Make 'Fundamental Changes' After 'Unprovoked' Killing of American in West Bank

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Sep. 10, 2024

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Israel needs to make "fundamental changes" to their rules of engagement in the wake of their "unprovoked and unjustified" killing of 26-year-old American peace activist Aysenur Eygi but stopped short of threatening the Jewish state with any actual repercussions.


Transcript via the State Department:
AFP REPORTER SHAUN TANDON: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Foreign Secretary. Secretary Blinken, could I ask you about a couple of aspects on the Middle East? The Israel Defense Forces just a moment ago released an investigation, or released a preliminary – some preliminary findings to the death of an American citizen, Ms. Aysenur Eygi. Could you say – they said that she was killed most likely by Israeli fire, but unintentionally. Are you confident of that assessment? Does the United States want to see anything further? Are you confident with the assessment that this was unintentional, and what more do you want Israel to do? Could there be repercussions?

For both of you, could I ask you about the International Criminal Court? The – it seems that in the coming days there could be a formal decision on whether to seek an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu, among others. Mr. Foreign Secretary, the Labor government, of course, has taken a slightly different stance from your predecessors, from the Conservatives, on this. Could you say what your position is, whether you support going ahead? And is there unity between the two allies on this? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Shaun, thank you very much. With regard to the tragic killing of Aysenur, I think what we saw of this investigation is it seems to show what eyewitnesses have said and made clear: that her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified. 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 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. We’ve long seen reports of the security forces looking the other way when extremist settlers use violence against Palestinians. We’ve seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. And 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.

Now, we’re looking carefully at the results of this investigation, but even on an initial read and even accepting it at face value, it’s clear that there are serious issues that need to be dealt with. And we will insist that they be dealt with.
The Biden-Harris administration has delivered over 50,000 tons of military equipment to Israel through 500 flights and 107 sea shipments since October, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and just last month Blinken approved another massive $20 billion arms sale to Israel despite their many war crimes and abuses which Blinken himself touched on above.

Blinken had to falsify a report to absolve Israel of responsibility for blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza earlier this year in order to illegally keep the aid to Israel flowing, according to a State Department whistleblower.


There's no reason for Israel to act any differently so long as US aid is not only being shipped unimpeded but expanding massively at a breakneck pace.

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