Family Demands US Probe Into Israeli Settlers' 'Lynching' of American Citizen

The family of 20-year-old U.S. citizen Sayfollah Musallet is being joined by a number of advocacy groups in demanding a full U.S.-led investigation into the young man's fatal beating by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week—and pushing back against the corporate media's characterization of the brutal attack.

"We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes," said the family in a statement, referring to Musallet by his nickname.

The family described how Israeli settlers "surrounded Saif for over three hours as paramedics attempted to reach him, but the mob of settlers blocked the ambulance and paramedics from providing life-saving aid."

Musallet's brother finally was able to retrieve him and bring him to a nearby hospital, but he died from his injuries before arriving there.

The State Department has said little about the killing of Musallet, who was a 20-year-old Palestinian-American with dual citizenship who was born in Florida, where he was still living when he traveled to the West Bank to visit family for the summer.

The Trump administration told Al Jazeera late Friday that the department "has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas," and said it was "aware of reports of the death of a U.S. citizen in the West Bank," but did not provide further details about how it was proceeding following Musallet's killing.

Meanwhile, rights advocates condemned The New York Times' reporting on the attack, which it called "a clash." It cited the Israeli government's claim that "the violence began when Palestinians threw stones at Israeli civilians."

"This was a lynching, not a 'clash,'" said Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Washington State office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Musallet is at least the ninth U.S. citizen to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since 2022. The U.S. government has historically accepted the results of Israel's investigations into killings like those of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

Under pressure, the Department of Justice finally opened a probe into the 2022 fatal shooting of Abu Akleh, but more than three years after her killing it has not released its findings.

None of the Israeli killings of U.S. citizens have resulted in criminal charges.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told Al Jazeera Saturday that the U.S. "must stop treating Palestinian American lives as expendable."

"Israeli settlers lynched 20-year-old Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet, while U.S. officials stayed silent," the group said. "Sayfollah was born and raised in Florida. He was visiting family for the summer in the West Bank when settlers beat him to death while he protested illegal land seizures."

Musallet's family said his killing is "an unimaginable nightmare and an injustice that no family should ever have to face."

"We demand justice," they said.

Zeteo journalist Mehdi Hasan noted that along with the Trump administration near-silence, Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has so far said nothing publicly about the killing of the Tampa resident.

"Why do Israelis keep murdering Americans?" said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. "Perhaps it's because they know our government will never do a damn thing about it?"

"Not even a word of condolence offered to his family, not from 'America First' President Trump, not from the Florida governor, not from the State Department," she said. "Seems it's always just really Israel First for these folks."