Turkey’s Erdogan calls for Islamic alliance against ‘Israeli state terrorism’
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.
He made the comment after the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries,” Erdogan said at an event near Istanbul.
Recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties with Egypt and Syria are aimed at “forming a line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism”, which Erdogan said also threatened Lebanon and Syria.
Family demands independent probe into killing of US activist in West Bank
The family of a Turkish-American activist shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank urged the United States to launch an independent inquiry into her killing, saying an Israeli probe isn’t “adequate”.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot by an Israeli soldier while taking part in a demonstration against illegal Israeli settlements near the West Bank village of Beita, near the city of Nablus, on Friday, according to witnesses.
An autopsy confirmed Eygi, who died at a hospital, was killed by a sniper’s bullet to the head, Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas told Al Jazeera.
Family of American killed in West Bank blames Israel for her death, demands independent investigation
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/07/middleeast/american-killed-west-bank-family-intl-hnk/index.html
The family of an American woman shot and killed while protesting in the occupied West Bank has blamed Israel for her death and called for an independent investigation, saying in a statement that an Israel-led probe would be inadequate.
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Previously, the Israeli military had admitted firing at the demonstrators, and a US National Security Council spokesperson said that the US had contacted Israeli officials to “request an investigation into the incident.”
But the family said that would not be enough.
“We welcome the White House’s statement of condolences, but given the circumstances of Aysenur’s killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate,” the statement read.
“We call on President (Joe) Biden, Vice President (Kamala) Harris, and Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.”
The statement also said Eygi “was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter.”
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In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said that its troops “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.”
The IDF is “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area,” the statement added.
The ISM said none of its members threw rocks during the protest.
“Aysenur was more than 200 meters away from where the Israeli soldiers were, and there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot,” it said in a statement.
“Regardless, from such distance, neither she, nor anyone else could have possibly been perceived as posing any threat. She was killed in cold blood.”
