Kamala Harris decries ‘tragic’ killing of US citizen by Israeli forces

The US vice president and Democratic nominee has failed to back Aysenur Eygi’s family’s call for an independent investigation.

Washington, DC – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has decried the killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi by Israeli forces, but the United States vice president stopped short of endorsing requests for an independent investigation into the incident.

In a statement on Wednesday, Harris called the fatal shooting of Eygi in the occupied West Bank last week “tragic” and “unacceptable”. She also urged “full accountability” for the killing.

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

“Israel’s preliminary investigation indicated it was the result of a tragic error for which the [Israeli military] is responsible. We will continue to press the government of Israel for answers and for continued access to the findings of the investigation so we can have confidence in the results.”

Israeli forces shot Eygi in the head on September 6 while she was protesting against an illegal Israeli outpost in the Palestinian territory.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military acknowledged that it “probably” killed Eygi, but said she was shot “indirectly and unintentionally”.

Eygi, 26, lived in Washington State and has been described by friends as a joyous person who was passionate about social justice.

Rights advocates have long argued that Israel should not be allowed to investigate its own abuses, noting that the country’s authorities rarely prosecute its own soldiers for rampant rights violations against Palestinians.

That is why Eygi’s family had called on the US to conduct its own probe into the killing. But Washington has all but ruled out the request, saying that it is awaiting the results of the Israeli investigation.

On Tuesday, both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin described the killing of Eygi as “unprovoked and unjustified”. But their boss, President Joe Biden, was quick to suggest that he accepts the Israeli explanation for the shooting.

“Apparently, it was an accident. It ricocheted off the ground and it — [she] got hit by accident,” he told reporters outside the White House.

He later issued a statement on Wednesday saying the US expects to have “full access” to Israel’s preliminary investigation.

“There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” Biden wrote in the statement.

None of the US officials — including Harris — has backed an independent probe or committed to seeking consequences for Eygi’s killing.

Eygi is one of several Americans killed by Israel in recent years. Victims include 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq, who was shot in January, and veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces in Jenin in 2022.

The US has verbally demanded accountability in these cases but has not applied any penalties to Israel for refusing to open criminal investigations into the incidents.

Israel receives billions of dollars in US military aid annually, as well as diplomatic support from Washington at international forums.

Biden and Harris have faced criticism this week for failing to call Eygi’s family to express condolences or condemn Israel for killing her.

Critics have also drawn a contrast between the administration’s response to Eygi’s death and the killing of US citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken captive during the October 7 attack by Hamas and found dead in a tunnel in Gaza late in August.

After Goldberg-Polin’s death, top Biden administration officials unequivocally condemned his killing, and the US Department of Justice announced new “terrorism” charges against Hamas leaders.

Advocates say this strong reaction only highlights the tepid nature of the US response to Eygi’s killing.

“Aysenur and her family deserve justice. As her family continues to mourn, President Biden and Vice President Harris have chosen to defend the foreign military that killed her instead of calling the family to express their condolences,” Juliette Majid, a friend of Eygi, told Al Jazeera in a statement.

“How long must the family wait before the US conducts an independent investigation into the deliberate killing of an American citizen?”