By Anyssa Mahmoud

From execution in the West Bank to political persecution at home, Palestinian Americans are being targeted on both sides of the border.

The murder of 14-year-old Palestinian American Amer Rabee is another case of US citizenship not protecting US citizens against Israel’s terror.

On April 6, 2025, 14-year-old Palestinian American Amer Rabee, alongside two of his friends, was picking green almonds in a popular gathering spot in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya when Israeli forces opened fire and shot the three boys, killing Rabee. 

The other two boys, Ayub Ijbara and Abdul Rahman Shhadah, were able to escape after being shot. Ayub Ijbara is also a US citizen; both he and Rabee were born in New Jersey.

Rabee’s uncle, Qassam Mohammad, also a dual citizen, spoke about his death. “They murdered him, it was an execution. We found over 15- 20 bullets in his body,” he told the Palestine Chronicle.

“The kid is 14 years old, what can he be capable of?” he wondered. 

An official Israeli military tweet, only published in Hebrew with a conveniently low-resolution black and white video of three boys allegedly throwing rocks, claimed that Israeli “forces identified three terrorists who were throwing rocks at a highway with civilian vehicles”. 

The families and local residents have denied the claims of stone-throwing, as this is a popular statement by Israel to justify the execution of Palestinian children at the hands of occupational violence.

According to Israeli law, Israeli soldiers can use lethal force on Palestinian children if they pose an “imminent threat”; these boys posed no threat, and all three were shot. 

The majority of Turmus Ayya’s residents are of dual US-Palestinian citizenship, with 80% of the village holding US citizenship. Local New Jersey officials, including US senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker, are pushing for a US-led investigation with full cooperation from the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority. Trump has not released a statement following his murder.

“Israel’s funded by America, how are you going to have an American citizenship and get killed by what America’s funding?” Mohammad said.

‘Unbreakable Bond’

The US government continues to fund Israel at all costs—even when American citizens suffer the consequences.

Rabee’s murder is a reminder to Palestinians and US citizens that their citizenship does not protect them against Israel’s terror. Within the past 17 months, three Palestinian American teenagers have been murdered in the occupied West Bank. 

On January 19, 2024, 17-year-old Palestinian American Tawfiq Ajaq was in his car when an Israeli Jewish settler opened fire on him in the town of Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya, near Ramallah. 

When he drove away, a military vehicle began shooting at him, then prevented an ambulance from reaching him.

On February 10, 2024, 17-year-old Palestinian American Mohammad Khdour was executed by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Biddu. Reports state he was in the car with his cousin near a park when he was shot in the head by Israeli forces.

It is not just Palestinian Americans who have been unlawfully killed by Israel, but Americans too. 

On September 6, 2024, 26-year-old Aysenur Eygi, a Turkish American and recent graduate of the University of Washington, went to the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement in an effort to protect Palestinian farmers from settler violence. Eygi was standing in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by an Israeli sniper. 

There has still been no justice for the murders of Ajaq, Khdour, or Eygi. 

‘Premeditated’ – Eyewitnesses Confirm Israel’s Intent to Kill Turkish-American Activist

Targeting of Palestinian Americans

The targeting of Palestinian Americans is not just happening in Palestine but across the United States. Not only were three Palestinian college students shot last year, but a 6-year-old Palestinian American was also killed. Now, there are even forced disappearances of Palestinian activists in America who hold permanent residence visas. 

The Trump administration has placed targets on the backs of Palestinian students and other student activists for opposing the US-funded genocide of Palestinians. 

Mahmoud Khalil, 30, is a recent Columbia University graduate who was abducted by ICE on March 8, 2025. He is an activist most known for his role as a negotiator during the student encampment at Columbia to demand an end to not only the genocide but the occupation, and for Columbia to cut ties with all companies and institutions complicit.

Khalil is a legal US resident with a green card—but apparently, that no longer matters. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a leaked memo, states very clearly that Khalil’s attempted deportation is due to his political beliefs. 

“An alien is deportable from the United States if the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe that the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” the memo read. 

Judge Rules Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported from US, Cites Foreign Policy Threat

Khalil is unlawfully held as DHS has stripped him of due process.

Khalil is not the only Palestinian who disappeared by ICE. 34-year-old Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student activist at Columbia, was ambushed by ICE outside an immigration office in Vermont, just before taking his citizenship test.” Mahdawi is also a green card holder. He was freed on April 30 after a judge ordered his release from federal immigration custody.

At what point will change come when Palestinians are forced out of their homes, made into refugees, forced to seek new opportunities in the Western countries funding their displacements? 

Palestinians are murdered across occupied Palestine, in the United States, and continue to have their rights stripped, from Israel to the US.

(The Palestine Chronicle)