The Only American Deaths that Make the News are Palestinians

The recent death of Louisiana native Tawfic Abdeljabbar has left many news outlets in an uproar since he was an American citizen who was killed in the “West Bank”. The claims of “increased settler violence” have been emphasized repeatedly since the war began on October 7th and this, seemingly, drives this point home to many individuals.

Examining the Narrative: Was Tawfic Abdeljabbar Truly Innocent?

There is a significant increase in the focus of this issue now that an American citizen has been killed during this conflict, but there is an exponential amount of information that has been left out. The actual reality is that twenty-three American citizens have been killed in Israel since October 7th, but the reason that it has just now become an issue is because the first twenty-two Americans that were killed were Jewish.

Investigating the Circumstances of Tawfic Abdeljabbar’s Death

The narrative pushed by many media outlets is this: Tawfic was an exceptional young man who had his whole life ahead of him and never got into any trouble. This invokes a major question: was Tawfic really an innocent young man or did he provoke aggression? 

After being raised in a New Orleans suburb, Tawfic’s family moved to Judea and Samaria following his junior year of high school to better connect to their “Palestinian heritage”, but he had the intentions of moving back to Louisiana to pursue a degree in engineering at the University of New Orleans. His family, however, plans to remain in Judea and Samaria for the foreseeable future.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for Tawfic’s death, but received a report referencing an off-duty police officer and a civilian who shot in the direction of a Palestinian who was suspected to be hurling rocks. The Israeli police have opened an investigation in regards to the claim that a soldier, who was present during the time of the incident, was firing at the individual.There have also been claims by Tawfic’s uncle that he was throwing rocks, but these claims have been disputed by other members of Tawfic’s family.  The president of a mosque in the greater New Orleans area has claimed that it was “Israeli settlers” that ultimately shot and killed Tawfic. He also expressed his frustration at the lack of acknowledgement shown by members of the State and Federal government in this quote: 

“He’s an American. He lives in Louisiana. I didn’t hear from anyone … No one issued a statement or release or tried to reach us or reach out to the community,” he said. “It shows you how much discrimination is going on. We did not receive the proper attention for this child as they normally give if he was in a different race or he was in a different country.”

Addressing Official Statements Regarding Tawfic Abdeljabbar’s Death

This claim directly says that, “no one has issued a statement,” however, US National Security spokesman John Kirby addressed Tawfic’s death in this statement: 

“We don’t have perfect context about exactly what happened, but we’re seriously concerned about it.”

There was also an additional statement made by the State Department regarding Tawfic’s death.

Exploring the Coverage of Tawfic Abdeljabbar’s Death

With all of the claims and contradictions in mind, it can be difficult to sift through the reality of what the situation may or may not have been. Tawfic’s death is undoubtedly a tragedy due to the fact that he was a 17 year old young man, however, there appears to be a very real possibility that he was throwing rocks and inciting violence. Just to be clear, rocks thrown by rowdy Palestinian teenagers have killed Jews in the past. If Tawfic was throwing rocks, wouldn’t that then make him a terrorist? The claims that his death was not addressed due to his race is also false. His death has been addressed by the IDF and Israeli police and his death has also been far more acknowledged by the media than that of Jewish deaths. So let’s look into the American-Jewish deaths that have occurred since October 7th.

The US State Department has recorded a total of twenty-three American deaths, including Tawfic,  since the war started on October 7th. So why are we just now hearing about an American’s tragic death occurring during the war? Twenty-one of the Americans killed were courageously serving in the IDF and an additional one was serving in the Israeli National Police. These are just the American deaths that have occurred since October 7th and not the American deaths that occurred during the massacre.

Comparing Media Coverage: Palestinian vs. Jewish Deaths

The coverage of Tawfic’s death brings to light a serious concern. Is the media only concerned with the deaths of Palestinians? Does the media care about any Jewish deaths? If this prejudiced coverage is the unfortunate reality, then how many Jews have been murdered in Israel and across the world that the media has turned a blind eye to? Every person in the previously mentioned twenty-three deaths throughout the last four months have been an American citizen, yet we hadn’t heard of the first twenty-two. The twenty-two Jewish people who lost their lives were valiantly serving and protecting the Land of Israel, but the most recent death lost his life for inciting violence against Jews. These skewed stories must come to a halt and begin to show the real, true story despite the slanted morals of the ones distorting and distributing the story.