Justice Lost in the Fog of Occupation

A 26-year-old Turkish American woman, Ansur Iggy, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while protesting against settlement expansion in the West Bank. The Israeli Defense Forces admitted the possibility of an unintentional shooting but maintained they were targeting a supposed instigator of a riot, a claim disputed by eyewitnesses who reported that the protest was peaceful. Iggy's family expressed outrage over the lack of accountability and demands for justice from U.S. officials, including President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The U.S. has refrained from conducting an independent investigation, instead allowing Israel to self-investigate and assert the incident was accidental. This pattern of U.S. complicity and acceptance of Israeli narratives perpetuates a cycle of impunity, as violence against non-combatants continues. With over 700 fatalities linked to ongoing occupations and territorial expansion, calls for fundamental changes to Israel's rules of engagement are overshadowed by a broader context of legality and morality regarding the occupation itself.