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      ‘Deeply disturbed’: White House calls for inquiry in to killing of Ayşenur Eygi by Israeli troops

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      The White House said it is “deeply disturbed” by the death of an American woman who was shot in the head by Israeli troops during a protest against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and called for Israel to investigate her killing, which has caused strong reactions across the international community.The US state department confirmed the death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a volunteer peace activist with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement (ISM).Eygi – a US-Turkey dual national – died on Friday after being fatally shot during a regular protest against settlement expansion in Beita near Nablus, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.The ISM, which organises foreign volunteers in the Palestinian territories, said Israeli forces “intentionally shot and killed” an international human rights activist during the weekly protest on Friday morning. It did not name the volunteer.“The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with violence from the Israeli army stationed on a hill. The volunteer died shortly after being transported to a local hospital in Nablus,” the ISM said in a statement.The individual’s family had requested privacy as they mourn their loss, it said. “Their wish to grieve in peace should be respected by all, as they navigate this tragic and difficult situation.”The US has not said whether Eygi had been shot by Israeli troops. “We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more,” Matthew Miller, a state department spokesperson, said.The US ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, echoed those comments, posting to X his “deepest condolences” to Eygi’s family and loved ones. “We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens,” he added.The White House said it had contacted the Israeli government and requested an investigation into Eygi’s killing. “We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, today in the West Bank and our hearts go out to her family and loved ones,” said Sean Savett, the White House’s national security council spokesperson.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, the country’s top diplomat, deplored the “tragic loss”. “When we have more info, we will share it, make it available and, as necessary, we’ll act on it,” Blinken told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had learned “with great sorrow” that a Turkish national had been killed. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, condemned Israel’s “barbaric intervention against a civilian protest” that he said led to Eygi’s killing.The Israeli military admitted to firing at the demonstrators and said it was looking into reports that a foreign national was killed. The Israel Defense Forces said it “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them”.Eygi graduated from the University of Washington earlier this year, according to Aria Fani, an assistant professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures. Fani said Eygi was an exceptional student and person.He said he had seen Eygi about two months earlier and urged her not to go to the West Bank because he was worried for her safety there.The University of Washington said she had been a peer mentor there, having helped “welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives”.In a statement, the university’s president, Ana Mari Cauce, described Eygi’s killing as “awful” and said she called for “a ceasefire and resolution to the crisis” on the West Bank.“My heart goes out to Ayşenur’s family, friends and loved ones,” she added.Pramila Jayapal, the US representative for the area, said in a statement that Eygi’s death was a “terrible tragedy”.“My office is actively working to gather more information on the events that led to her death,” Jayapal said. “I am very troubled by the reports that she was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. The Netanyahu government has done nothing to stop settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, often encouraged by rightwing ministers of the Netanyahu government. The killing of an American citizen is a terrible proof point in this senseless war of rising tensions in the region.”Eygi is the third ISM activist to have been killed since 2000, according to the Associated Press. She was the 18th demonstrator to be killed in Beita since 2020, the ISM said.In 2003, while protesting against the Israeli military’s destruction of houses in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Rachel Corrie – a 23-year-old US citizen from Olympia in Washington state – was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer.A month later, Tom Hurndall, a 22-year-old Briton, was shot in the head while he was helping Palestinian children cross a street in Rafah. He died the following year. An Israeli soldier was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison.In August, an American activist said he was shot in the leg by Israeli forces during a protest in Beita. The man, who spoke to the AFP using a pseudonym, said Israeli troops were “firing teargas at us, live rounds” and that he was shot while he was running away. More

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      Trump tells Jewish donors they would be ‘abandoned’ if Harris is elected

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      Donald Trump told Jewish donors on Thursday that they would be “abandoned” if Kamala Harris becomes president.In his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, the Republican presidential candidate also said he would ban refugee resettlement from “terror-infested” areas such as Gaza and arrest “pro-Hamas thugs” who engage in vandalism, an apparent reference to the college student protesters.While Trump sketched out few concrete Middle Eastern policy proposals for a second term, he painted a potential Harris presidency in cataclysmic terms for Israel.“You’re going to be abandoned if she becomes president. And I think you need to explain that to your people … You’re not going to have an Israel if she becomes president,” Trump said without providing evidence for such a claim.Under both Trump and Joe Biden, similar numbers of Palestinians were admitted to the US as refugees. From fiscal year 2017 to 2020, the US accepted 114 Palestinian refugees, according to US state department data, compared with 124 Palestinian refugees from fiscal year 2021 to 31 July of this year.Trump also said US universities would lose accreditation and federal support over what he described as “antisemitic propaganda” if he is elected to the White House.“Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support,” Trump said, speaking remotely to a crowd of more than 1,000 donors.Protests roiled college campuses in spring, with students opposing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and demanding institutions stop doing business with companies backing Israel.Republicans have said the protests show some Democrats are antisemites who support chaos. Protest groups say authorities have unfairly labeled their criticism of Israel’s policies as antisemitic.The Association of American Universities, which says it represents about 70 leading US universities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In the United States, the federal government does not directly accredit universities but has a role in overseeing the mostly private organizations that give colleges accreditation.The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s speech.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Democratic presidential candidate has hewed closely to the president’s strong support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the heavy Palestinian death toll in Gaza.She has, however, called for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling the situation there “devastating”.Health authorities in Gaza say more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault on the enclave since the 7 October 2023 attacks led by Hamas.Approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed in the surprise attack and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.The subsequent assault on Gaza has displaced nearly its entire 2.3 million population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the world court that Israel denies. More

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      in Elections

      Israeli Raids Become a Near-Daily Reality for Many Palestinians

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      Five Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their vehicles early Thursday, Palestinian news media said, as one of the longest and most destructive recent Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank stretched into a ninth day across several cities.Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, reported the deaths, in the town of Far’a. They added to the toll of an already devastating military offensive, with at least 39 people killed in the raids and 145 others injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.The Israeli military said the strike in Far’a targeted armed fighters who hurled explosives and shot at security forces. It has described the raids as an effort to crack down on Palestinian armed groups and combat rising attacks against Israelis.Such raids have become a near-daily reality for the nearly three million Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation in the West Bank. More than 600 Palestinians have been killed there since the Hamas-led attack on Israel last October, both in military strikes and at the hands of extremist Jewish settlers, according to the United Nations.Palestinian armed groups have claimed some of those killed in the ongoing Israeli raids as members. None claimed those killed in Far’a as members, and in a statement Hamas referred to them as “residents.”The nine days of military raids have taken an exceptional toll on Palestinians in several towns and cities, especially Jenin and Tulkarm, where many residents have trapped in their homes for days, saying that Israeli forces are operating outside their doors with armored vehicles. Bulldozers have ripped up entire streets — in what the Israeli military calls an effort to unearth improvised explosives planted by armed groups — and snipers have taken up positions on rooftops and inside homes, residents have said. More

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      in Elections

      Families of American Hostages Say a Deal ‘Has to Happen Right Now’

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      The families of several American hostages criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday as not moving urgently enough to secure a hostage release deal, after six hostages were found dead in southern Gaza over the weekend.“It has to happen right now,” said Adi Alexander, whose 20-year-old son Edan has been held captive for nearly 11 months. “Full stop. Period. Cease-fire and execution of the deal. More military pressure brings more dead hostages.”Seven Americans, including Edan Alexander, remain held in Gaza by Hamas. Among them, the Israeli military believes, three were slain on Oct. 7, but their bodies have not been returned. One dual Israeli-American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was among the hostages whose bodies were recovered on Saturday.The Israeli health ministry said on Sunday that the six slain hostages had been recently shot at close range, according to a forensic examination. The Israeli military blamed Hamas for the killings. Hamas denied responsibility, without providing evidence.Adi Alexander and his wife, Yael, of Tenafly, N.J., said in a phone interview that the killings of Mr. Goldberg-Polin and the other five hostages were “unnecessary deaths” and could have been prevented. The two commended the White House for being “very dedicated and very focused from the get-go” in the efforts to reach a truce.But, Mr. Alexander added, “I wish I could see the same dedication from the Israeli government.” He said that he wanted “to call on President Biden to tell Benjamin Netanyahu: Just stop the B.S. Don’t delay the deal.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Elections

      Netanyahu Stands Firm on Cease-Fire Terms Amid Growing Outrage in Israel

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      In his first news conference since the bodies of six killed hostages were recovered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to budge on his conditions for any truce in Gaza.Brushing aside pleas from allies and the demands of Israeli protesters for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday vowed to maintain Israeli control along the border between Egypt and Gaza, a contentious plan that appeared to dim, if not dash, prospects for a truce.In his first news conference since the bodies of six slain hostages were recovered over the weekend, Mr. Netanyahu told reporters on Monday night that, to ensure its security, Israel needed to assert control over the Gazan side of the border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, calling it the lifeline of Hamas.Hamas has said Israeli control of the corridor is a nonstarter in negotiations for a truce, demanding instead a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.“If we leave, there will be enormous diplomatic pressure upon us from the whole world not to return,” Mr. Netanyahu said of the corridor, as a large crowd protested near his private residence in Jerusalem on Monday night.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Monday that to ensure its security, Israel needed to assert control over the Philadelphi Corridor, calling it the lifeline of Hamas. Ohad Zwigenberg/EPA, via ShutterstockMr. Netanyahu made the comments a day after the Israeli military announced that the six hostages had been found dead in a tunnel underneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The discovery devastated Israelis and spurred both the mass protests on Sunday and a widespread work stoppage by the country’s largest labor union.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Elections

      Histadrut, the Labor Union Behind Israel’s Strike, Has Long History of Influence

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      The labor union that called for the strike in Israel on Monday, Histadrut, has played a key role in recent Israeli politics. Most notably, it led strikes last year that challenged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, forcing him to back off a contentious judicial plan. Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, was also pivotal to the founding of the State of Israel. It was set up in 1920, at a time when trade unions were a critical vector of political and economic influence in many countries.Its purpose in its early decades was both to serve the needs of workers at a time of Jewish immigration to what was then British-administered Palestine, and to lay the groundwork for the foundation of Israel as a state. It helped to establish the industrial, financial and economic institutions from which the nation emerged in 1948. The union’s leader in the early years, David Ben-Gurion, became Israel’s first prime minister.The organization, the largest of its kind in Israel, now represents about 800,000 workers from 27 separate unions, according to its website. Its chairman, Arnon Bar-David, has held the post since 2019.Mr. Bar-David, a longtime member of the union who also served as a major in the military reserves, in early 2023 joined other union chiefs, business leaders and military reservists to oppose a plan put in place by Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right government to limit the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down decisions by elected officials.Histadrut organized a major strike that — along with disquiet in the military and mass protests that destabilized the economy — contributed to one of the biggest domestic upheavals in Israel in decades. The unrest prompted Mr. Netanyahu to suspend the judicial plan.The deadly attack led by Hamas on Israel months later, and the ensuing Israeli military offensive in Gaza, moved the judicial issue to the background. But Histadrut again showed its influence by calling for the general strike on Monday, which, along with large street demonstrations the night before calling for a deal to free hostages from Gaza, amounted to the broadest expression of anti-government dissent since the war began. More

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      in Elections

      Israelis Go on Strike After Hostage Deaths, and German Far Right Makes Election Gains

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      Listen to and follow “The Headlines”Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadioPatrick Kingsley and Jessica Metzger and On Today’s Episode:Workers Strike as Israelis Seethe Over Hostage Killings, by Patrick KingsleyTakeaways From East Germany’s State Elections, by Christopher F. SchuetzeHow a Leading Chain of Psychiatric Hospitals Traps Patients, by Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie ThomasA Funnel Cake Macchiato, Anyone? The Coffee Wars Are Heating Up, by Julie CreswellA protest outside a military compound in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Many demonstrators on Sunday demanded that Israel reach a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesTune in, and tell us what you think at theheadlines@nytimes.com. For corrections, email nytnews@nytimes.com.For more audio journalism and storytelling, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Special thanks to More

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      in Elections

      Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Israeli-American Hostage Found Dead, Mourned Across U.S.

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      Hersh Goldberg-Polin loved soccer and music. He was curious, respectful and passionate about geography and travel, according to his mother. He was born in the Bay Area and moved to Israel when he was 8.Some 15 years later, he became one of the most internationally recognized hostages among the 240 who were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7. For months, his parents made pleas to bring their son and the other hostages home.But he was among the six hostages whose bodies were found in a tunnel in Gaza over the weekend. In a statement, President Biden said they were killed by Hamas.“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” his family said in a statement. Family members declined to be interviewed for this article, asking for privacy.On Sunday, tributes to Mr. Goldberg-Polin, who was 23 and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, poured in from many pockets of America. People who knew him expressed immense grief and recalled moments they shared. To many across the country, he had become a symbol of hope.Hersh Goldberg-Polin.The Hostages Families Forum, via Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More