Blinken slams Israel after IDF says its forces likely shot slain American activist

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is “highly likely” American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed in the occupied West Bank on Friday, was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire.”

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has called for “fundamental changes” to the way Israeli forces operate in the occupied West Bank after the killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi at a protest last week. Blinken’s sharply worded rebuke came after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire.” In its initial inquiry into the incident, the IDF said that the shot was not aimed at the activist, but at “the key instigator” of a “violent riot” at the Beita Junction where it said Palestinians burned tires and hurled rocks at Israeli security forces. It didn’t name the alleged instigator. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), with whom Eygi had been volunteering, said that its protest on September 6 was peaceful. At a news conference in London on Tuesday, Blinken said Eygi’s killing was “unprovoked and unjustified” and demanded changes to the rules of engagement of Israel forces operating 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.”