Thursday, September 12, 2024

Biden blasted for calling Israeli killing of Turkish-US activist 'accident'

from Daily Sabah

U.S. President Joe Biden has sparked outrage from the family of Turkish American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi for characterizing her shooting by an Israeli sniper in the occupied West Bank last week as “an accident.”

Biden said he thought the killing of Eygi was an "accident," but both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin called it "unprovoked and unjustified."

In a White House statement on Wednesday, Biden doubled down on Israeli claims, saying Israel has acknowledged its responsibility for Ayşenur’s death, and that a preliminary investigation has indicated it was the result of “a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation.”

After an initially measured response to Eygi's death on Friday, pending a fact-finding exercise, Blinken said the United States would raise it at senior levels with its key ally.

The investigation, and eyewitness accounts, make clear "that her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified," Blinken told reporters on a visit to London.

"No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest," he said...

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