'America First?': US under fire for ignoring Israel's killing of Palestinian-American teen
Social media is being flooded with criticism of the US government's reaction to Israel’s killing of Palestinian-American teen Omar Rabea, 14, in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a day before US President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
On Sunday, Rabea and two other Palestinian-American teens were reportedly protesting against an Israeli incursion into their village, Turmus Ayya, when they were shot. Mayor Adeeb Lafi told Reuters that the boys were shot at by an Israeli settler, but Israeli forces ultimately took responsibility for killing the American teenager.
CNN reported that Israeli forces said in a statement that their soldiers opened fire during “a counterterrorism operation” when they saw three “terrorists” throwing stones toward the village’s entrance road. They released a video that apparently shows the three teens right before they were attacked.
במהלך פעילות מבצעית של לוחמים מיחידה 636 במרחב תורמוסעייא שבחטיבת שומרון, הכוח זיהה שלושה מחבלים אשר יידו סלעים לעבר כביש מהיר עם רכבים אזרחיים.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 6, 2025
הלוחמים ירו לעבר המחבלים שהיוו סכנה על האזרחים, חיסלו אחד מהם ופגעו בשני המחבלים הנוספים.
כוחות צה״ל ימשיכו לפעול בהגנה ובהתקפה… pic.twitter.com/gqeasTE2HC
According to the Wafa news agency, the three teenagers were transported to a hospital in the nearby village of Abu Falah, where Rabea eventually succumbed to his injuries. Local sources say the ambulances were deliberately blocked by Israeli forces before they reached the teenagers.
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Rabea lived in northern New Jersey before he moved to Turmus Ayya, which is known for containing a high percentage of US citizens.
Israeli settlers from the neighbouring illegal settlement, Shiloh, have increased their violence on the village following Israel’s war on Gaza, with attacks taking place almost weekly, according to reports.
Photos and videos of Rabea's funeral have been circulating online, with many wondering if Israel will be held accountable by the US.
Rabea’s death adds to a growing list of Americans who have been killed by Israel in the occupied West Bank, including Palestinian-Americans Mohammed Khdour, 17; and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, 17; as well as Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
'America first'
Many online have called out the US administration's lack of effort in holding Israel accountable for the handful of American deaths that have taken place in the occupied West Bank, asking why Trump's "America first" mentality doesn't apply to Palestinian Americans.
An American citizen is murdered by state of Israel on the eve of its indicted war criminal Prime Minister's visit to the U.S. Let's see what will happen but we all know the likely outcome because Palestinians, even when U.S. citizens, are not human. https://t.co/JIZ7rZAYVU
— Ajamu Baraka (@ajamubaraka) April 7, 2025
"If the Trump administration really wants to put ‘America first,’ its first duty is to protect the lives of American citizens," the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement. "The Department of Justice must act to investigate this and all other murders and attacks targeting Palestinian Americans. Those responsible must be brought to justice."
"Yet another American child shot and killed by Israel. The US president will meet with the Israeli prime minister in DC today," journalist Mehdi Hassan posted on X. "Not a word will be said about this killing. America First!"
Israel has repeatedly killed Americans in the West Bank. They killed a US journalist (at first denied it, then video proved they did, so admitted it). Now they just shot a 14-year-old American.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 7, 2025
Today, Trump will hold Netanyahu's chair again for him at the table. #AmericaFirst https://t.co/gntf7hx60m
Others say that Israel's reaction to the boys "throwing stones" - which has been used as justification for killing Palestinian teenagers since the First Intifada - should be deemed as disproportionate.
"Calling a 14-year-old child a terrorist for throwing stones - then executing him and injuring two others - while Israeli settlers repeatedly storm these children's village, including a recent attempt to burn a Palestinian family alive, without ever being shot, arrested, or held accountable, lays bare the brutal hypocrisy and cruelty of this system," human rights activist Ihab Hassan said in a post on X.
"Just three days ago, Israel’s Defense Minister declared that settler terrorism is not to be considered 'terrorism' at all. This is what impunity looks like."
One social media user argued that the reaction – or lack thereof - from the US government is "another example of the racism that’s imbedded into the fabric of American culture.
"Some people will easily dismiss this because he’s Palestinian-American… let him be any sort of white American and the backlash to this would be drastically different."
Israeli soldiers, armed to the teeth and protected by the bullet-proof walls of their tanks/APCs, could’ve simply driven past children throwing stones. But no, they chose to kill them.
— Tariq Kenney-Shawa (@tksshawa) April 7, 2025
If that wasn’t enough, they prevented ambulances from reaching Omar and watched him bleed out. https://t.co/CEr40E0QzO
One social media user compared the treatment of Israeli Americans to that of Palestinian-American dual-citizens.
"Don’t forget the double standard: the US will collectively punish millions to secure the release of Israeli-American POWs taken hostage while serving in the Israeli military, but won’t lift a finger when Israel extrajudicially executes Palestinian-American children."
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