The White House called on the Israel Defense Forces Tuesday to make “fundamental changes” to the way it operates in the West Bank following the killing of an American Turkish citizen on Friday.
An internal IDF investigation determined Tuesday that 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head “indirectly and unintentionally” on Friday and has opened a criminal investigation into the matter.
Before departing Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden briefly commented on the investigation, telling reporters the bullet apparently “ricocheted” before striking Eygi in the head.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a significantly stronger condemnation of Israel earlier in the day, which was echoed by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre while traveling with Biden to New York.
“Blinken called on Israeli security forces to make fundamental changes to the way that they operate in the West Bank,” she said. “No one, no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just to purely express their views.”
Still, Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the criminal investigation into the shooting and would not say if Biden had or will speak to Eygi’s family.
Jean-Pierre also claimed that U.S. policy on Israel had not changed following the shooting and did not say if Biden planned on speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the near future.
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“Look, the president and the prime minister have spoken many times over the past several months. Certainly they’ll continue to do so,” she said. “Because they’ve known each other for decades, when they speak, they have an honest and frank conversation. That’s because they have that relationship.”
You can listen to Jean-Pierre’s comments in full below.