Rep. Summer Lee Says US Must Hold Israel Accountable for Killing Americans

U.S. lawmakers are demanding that Israel be held accountable for the violence perpetrated against Palestinian Americans by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

“The grief and outrage of the families of American citizens killed and detained by Israeli forces was palpable,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania) posted on social media on Wednesday. “I am so grateful for their courage and advocacy driven by the hope that more families do not have to experience the pain they do.”

Since 2022, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 10 American citizens in the West Bank and Gaza, according to Lee’s office. No one has been prosecuted in connection with any of the deaths, Al Jazeera reports.

Lee and other federal lawmakers held a press conference on September 16 to condemn Israel’s impunity, joined by family members of victims of Israeli violence.

“When Americans are killed abroad, it’s a standard procedure for our U.S. government to open an investigation, but when murderers wear Israeli uniforms, there’s complete silence,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) at the press conference. “Not only that, they ask the actual government that committed the crime to do the investigation.”

Among those who attended the press conference were the loved ones of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Washington state. Last year, an Israeli soldier shot her in the head while she was protesting settlements in the West Bank.

“Sometimes, I think, why do they keep killing U.S. citizens?” said Eygi’s sister, Ozden Eygi Bennett. “Maybe it’s because they simply can. There have been no repercussions, no sanctions, no consequences for Israel.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) said she had demanded the Biden administration “launch an independent U.S.-led investigation into Ayşenur’s death,” but nothing has been done.

“I pushed over and over again for that accountability with absolutely no forward movement, no transparency,” she continued. “Today, we are here, nine months into the Trump administration, and we are in the same place. We still do not have a U.S.-led investigation.”

Israeli settlers have attacked and killed numerous Palestinian Americans, including Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet, a 20-year-old entrepreneur from Florida.

In July, Musallet was visiting his family in the occupied West Bank when Israeli settlers beat him to death and blocked ambulances from reaching him. His younger brother eventually carried his body to rescue workers. Musallet had recently opened an ice cream shop with his father and cousins in Florida.

“Saif was just starting his life as a young man,” said his father, Kamel Musallet. “Saif built a successful ice cream shop in Tampa. Everyone loved him there.”

Several months earlier, in February, Israeli forces abducted Musallet’s cousin, Mohammed Ibrahim, from his home in the West Bank. At the time, Ibrahim was just 15; he turned 16 in an Israeli prison. Ibrahim, a dual American-Palestinian citizen, remains imprisoned. He has contracted scabies, been denied food and medical care, and lost more than 30 pounds during his imprisonment. Over a hundred organizations have called for the teenager’s release.

“We demand freedom for Mohammed Ibrahim,” said Tlaib. “Like so many Palestinian children, he was blindfolded, kidnapped from his family home at 3 a.m. by Israeli soldiers, and has been held seven months in an Israeli military prison, famous for torture and abuse of children.”

“We say enough is enough,” she continued. “We’re standing here because we must honor the lives of our loved ones by demanding that our government stop funding and supporting the Israeli government’s genocide and war crimes.”