Washington, DC – The household of Sayfollah Musallet, the USA citizen who was crushed to demise by Israeli settlers within the occupied West Financial institution final week, is asking for justice.
Musallet’s kinfolk need Washington to launch its own investigation into the incident to make sure accountability.
The Florida-born 20-year-old is the ninth US citizen to be killed by Israeli settlers or troopers since 2022. Not one of the earlier circumstances have led to legal costs or US sanctions in opposition to the perpetrators.
That lack of response is what advocates name a “sample of impunity”, whereby Washington calls for a probe with out putting any vital strain on Israel to provide outcomes.
In Musallet’s case, the administration of President Donald Trump urged Israel to “aggressively” examine the killing.
“There have to be accountability for this legal and terrorist act,” Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday.
It isn’t clear if the US has taken any additional actions to hunt justice within the aftermath of the deadly beating.
Critics say the “sample of impunity” stems partly from the traditionally shut bonds between the US and Israel. Successive presidential administrations within the US have affirmed their “unwavering” help for Israel, and the US supplies Israel with billions of {dollars} in army help yearly.
Right here, Al Jazeera seems at who the eight different victims have been, how the US has responded to their killing and the place their circumstances stand.
Omar Assad
Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American, was driving house within the occupied West Financial institution after visiting associates on January 12, 2022, when Israeli troopers stopped him at a checkpoint.
In keeping with the post-mortem report and his family’s account, the troops dragged Assad out of his automotive after which handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded him, leaving him to die at a chilly building web site.
The administration of then-President Joe Biden known as on Israel to launch a legal investigation into the incident.
However Assad’s kinfolk and lawmakers from his house state of Milwaukee needed Washington to conduct its own probe – a requirement that by no means materialised.
As is usually the case, Israel’s investigation into its personal troopers’ conduct didn’t result in any legal costs.
In 2023, the Israeli army said that it discovered no “causal hyperlink” between the way in which its troopers handled Assad and his demise.
The Biden administration additionally declined to use sanctions underneath US regulation to the Israeli unit that killed Assad: the Netzah Yehuda, a battalion infamous for its abuses in opposition to Palestinians within the West Financial institution.
Final yr, the US Division of State introduced that the battalion will nonetheless be eligible for US help underneath the Leahy Law, which prohibits army help for safety models concerned in human rights violations.
Shireen Abu Akleh
Abu Akleh, a veteran Al Jazeera reporter, was fatally shot by Israeli forces throughout a raid in Jenin within the occupied West Financial institution on Might 11, 2022.
Owing to her standing as probably the most celebrated journalists within the Center East, her killing sparked worldwide outrage from rights teams and press freedom advocates.
Regardless of the worldwide consideration, Israeli forces attacked her funeral in Jerusalem, beating the pallbearers carrying her coffin with batons.
Israel initially denied killing Abu Akleh, 51, falsely claiming that the reporter was shot by armed Palestinians.
Months later, after multiple visual investigations confirmed that Israeli troopers focused Abu Akleh, Israel acknowledged that its forces doubtless killed the reporter, dismissing the incident as an accident.
The Biden administration confronted waves of pleas by legislators and rights teams to launch its own investigation into the killing, but it surely resisted the calls, arguing that Israel is able to investigating itself.
In November 2022, Israeli media reviews claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating the capturing of Abu Akleh, however the US Division of Justice by no means confirmed the probe.
Greater than three years after Abu Akleh’s killing, her household and supporters say justice in her case has not been served.
Tawfiq Ajaq
Born in Louisiana, Ajaq was 17 when he visited the occupied West Financial institution to see his kinfolk final yr.
On January 19, 2024, he was driving a pick-up truck along with his associates when Israelis sprayed the car with bullets and killed him.
Mohammed Salameh, who witnessed and survived the assault, mentioned the capturing was unprovoked.
Whereas it’s not clear which particular person shot Ajaq, Israel mentioned the incident concerned “an off-duty regulation enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian” and was sparked by “rock-throwing actions” – a declare that Salameh has denied.
The US State Division known as for an “pressing investigation to find out the circumstance” of the incident.
However greater than 19 months after the capturing, Israel has not publicly launched any findings or charged any suspect within the capturing.
“We really feel deserted by our authorities,” Ajaq’s uncle, Mohammad Abdeljabbar, told Al Jazeera final yr.
Mohammad Khdour
Khdour was additionally 17 when he was killed underneath virtually similar circumstances to Ajaq simply weeks later.
In keeping with his cousin Malek Mansour, who witnessed the assault, an unidentified assailant opened hearth at their automotive within the occupied West Financial institution from a car with an Israeli quantity plate.
Mansour mentioned the assault was unprovoked. Khdour died on February 10, 2024.
The 2 had been consuming cookies and taking selfies moments earlier than the capturing.
As soon as once more, Washington known as for a probe.
“There must be an investigation. We have to get the information. And if acceptable, there must be accountability,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed reporters at the moment.
However advocates say that, whereas usually Israel launches sham investigations into such incidents, Israeli authorities haven’t acknowledged Khdour’s killing in any respect.
The Israeli army and police informed the publication Haaretz final yr that they don’t seem to be acquainted with the case.
Jacob Flickinger
An Israeli air strike focused a World Central Kitchen (WCK) car in Gaza on April 1, 2024, killing seven help employees, sparking anger and condemnation internationally.
Among the many victims was Flickinger, a 33-year-old US-Canadian twin citizen.
Biden known as for a “swift” Israeli investigation into the assault, which he mentioned “should carry accountability”.
However Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu known as the blast a “tragic accident”.
The Israeli army mentioned the commander who ordered the strike had “mistakenly assumed” that gunmen within the space have been within the help car.
It added that the commander didn’t establish the automotive as related to World Central Kitchen, a well known starvation reduction initiative based by movie star chef Jose Andres.
A World Central Kitchen brand was displayed prominently on the highest of the car earlier than the assault.
Israel mentioned it dismissed two commanders over the incident, however there have been no legal costs.
Since then, Israel has killed lots of of help employees in Gaza, together with Palestinian staff members from World Central Kitchen.
Final yr, the Worldwide Prison Court docket issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for utilizing hunger as a weapon of conflict in Gaza in addition to different alleged conflict crimes.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi
Eygi, born in Washington state, was collaborating in a protest in opposition to an unlawful settler outpost within the West Financial institution on September 6, 2024, when an Israeli soldier shot her within the head.
She was 26.
Whereas there have been reviews of a scuffle throughout a crackdown on the demonstration by Israeli forces, a number of witnesses have mentioned that Eygi was shot throughout a relaxed interval after the chaos had ended.
The State Division called on Israel to “rapidly and robustly” examine Eygi’s killing, but it surely dominated out conducting its personal probe.
Biden dismissed her demise as an “accident”, however Blinken condemned it as “unprovoked and unjustified”.
On the identical day that Eygi was fatally shot by Israel, the US Justice Division filed costs in opposition to Hamas leaders after the killing of US-Israeli captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Gaza.
The Israeli army mentioned its troopers doubtless killed Eygi “not directly and unintentionally” – a conclusion that her household known as offensive, stressing that she was focused by a sniper.
“The disregard proven for human life within the inquiry is appalling,” the household mentioned in an announcement.
Trump ally Randy Advantageous, now a Congress member, celebrated the killing of Eygi. “One much less #MuslimTerrorist,” he wrote in a social media submit, referring to the capturing.
Kamel Jawad
When Jawad, a celebrated chief within the Lebanese American community in Michigan, was killed by an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon on October 1 of final yr, the Biden administration initially denied he was a US citizen.
Washington later acknowledged that Jawad was American, expressing “alarm” over his killing.
“As we have now famous repeatedly, it’s a ethical and strategic crucial that Israel take all possible precautions to mitigate civilian hurt. Any lack of civilian life is a tragedy,” the US State Division mentioned at the moment.
Israel has not commented publicly on the strike that killed Jawad.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) slammed the Biden administration’s dealing with of the case, together with the US authorities’s preliminary “smug” response.
“It’s as in the event that they’re deliberately making an attempt to see our folks killed, deliberately downplaying us and dehumanising us,” ADC government director Abed Ayoub told Al Jazeera final yr.
Amer Rabee
On April 6, Israeli forces within the West Financial institution fatally shot 14-year-old Rabee, a New Jersey native, and known as him a “terrorist”. Two of his associates have been additionally injured within the assault.
Whereas the Israeli army accused Rabee and his associates of throwing rocks at Israeli automobiles, the slain teenager’s household insisted that he was choosing almonds on the facet of the street.
The Trump administration did not pursue accountability within the case and even publicly press for additional particulars in regards to the incident.
As an alternative, the State Division cited the Israeli account in regards to the 14-year-old’s killing.
“We provide our sincerest condolences to the household on their loss,” the State Division mentioned at the moment. “We acknowledge the [Israeli military’s] preliminary assertion that expressed that this incident occurred throughout a counter-terrorism operation.”