Lauren Taylor

SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN IS CALLING FOR FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES IN HOW ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES OPERATE IN THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK. 

HIS COMMENTS COME AFTER THE ISRAELI MILITARY ADMITTED IT WAS ‘HIGHLY LIKELY’ THAT ITS FORCES UNINTENTIONALLY SHOT AND KILLED AN AMERICAN CITIZEN  DURING A PROTEST. 

THE 26-YEAR-OLD HELD DUAL CITIZENSHIP WITH TURKEY AND WAS ATTENDING A DEMONSTRATION AGAINST SETTLEMENT EXPANSION IN THE PALESTINIAN VILLAGE OF BEITA WHEN SHE WAS SHOT.

AN INITIAL STATEMENT BY ISRAELI MILITARY POLICE FOUND THAT THE SHOT WASN’T AIMED AT HER DIRECTLY, BUT RATHER AT WHAT THE ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES DESCRIBED AS THE ‘KEY INSTIGATOR OF THE RIOT.’ 

THE IDF SAYS THE SHOOTING HAPPENED DURING WHAT THEY CALLED A ‘VIOLENT RIOT’ INVOLVING ROCK-THROWING PROTESTERS. 

HOWEVER, U.S. OFFICIALS, INCLUDING BLINKEN, ARE REJECTING THE JUSTIFICATION FOR HER DEATH. BLINKEN, IN FIRM REMARKS DELIVERED DURING A PRESS EVENT IN LONDON, SAID THE SHOOTING WAS ‘NOT ACCEPTABLE’ AND DEMANDED A CHANGE. 

HER DEATH HAS PROMPTED OUTRAGE NOT JUST FROM FAMILY, BUT FROM U.S. LAWMAKERS.

THE FAMILY CALLING ISRAEL’S PRELIMINARY FINDINGS ‘WHOLLY INADEQUATE’ AND SAID THEY WERE ‘DEEPLY OFFENDED’ BY THE SUGGESTION THAT THE KILLING WAS UNINTENTIONAL.

DESPITE BLINKEN’S STRONG CONDEMNATION, THERE HAS BEEN NO INDICATION THAT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PLANS TO ALTER U.S. MILITARY SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL. 

HOWEVER, THIS INCIDENT HAS AMPLIFIED CALLS FOR GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORM IN THE ISRAELI MILITARY’S OPERATIONS IN THE WEST BANK.

I’M LAUREN TAYLOR.

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