Outrage Grows Over Killing of Palestinian-American by West Bank Settlers
According to Al Jazeera, Musallet's family said in a statement that Israeli settlers surrounded him for three hours during the attack on Friday and prevented ambulances from reaching him.
The slain young man, born and raised in Florida, who had traveled to the West Bank last month to visit relatives, was described as a "kind, hard-working, and deeply-respected young man, working to build his dreams." He had recently established an ice cream shop in Tampa, in Florida, with his father, His family called the killing "an unimaginable nightmare and injustice that no family should ever have to face."
"We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes. We demand justice," the statement continued, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Another Palestinian man, 23-year-old Razek Hussein al-Shalabi, was fatally shot during the same attack and was left to bleed to death, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The U.S. has previously resisted calls to investigate the killing of American citizens by Israeli forces and settlers, deferring to Israel's own judicial processes. However, Israeli investigations rarely result in criminal charges against settlers or soldiers, despite well-documented abuses against Palestinians.
In response to the killing, the State Department said it "has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas." A spokesperson told Al Jazeera that they were "aware of reports" of Musallet's death but declined to provide further details, citing privacy concerns.
Since 2022, Israeli forces have killed at least nine U.S. citizens, including veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh—yet none of these cases have led to criminal charges.
Advocacy groups have condemned Washington's inaction. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) stated, "The U.S. must stop treating Palestinian American lives as expendable," while American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) questioned whether U.S. leaders would prioritize justice for a Palestinian-American victim.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged supporters to pressure lawmakers to condemn the killing, calling it part of a "long, unpunished pattern of violence" against Americans by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
Sarah Leah Whitson of DAWN told Al Jazeera that the U.S. has the tools to pursue accountability but lacks the "political will" to protect Palestinian-Americans.
Al Jazeera also highlighted that another Palestinian was killed in the same settler attack, emphasizing that justice should not depend on citizenship.
In November, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suspended the use of administrative detention orders against settlers in the West Bank. Despite the recent violence, including riots near Ramallah in which a 14-year-old boy was injured and a military investigation was launched, Katz said this week he does not intend to reinstate administrative detention for Jewish suspects, Ynet News reported. He argued that law enforcement should be handled by police and said the torching of Palestinian villages by Israeli Jews "is not considered terrorism." He added that administrative detention for Palestinians would continue.
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