{"id":130903,"date":"2026-03-06T02:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/130903\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T02:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:11:08","slug":"philadelphia-officials-demand-investigation-into-nasrallah-abu-siyams-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/130903\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia officials demand investigation into Nasrallah Abu Siyam\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Elected officials and family members of a Philadelphia-born Palestinian American are demanding an investigation into his death. Nineteen-year-old Nasrallah Abu Siyam was shot and killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank in February, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and witnesses<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge you to stand with justice \u2026 We have to choose between the power of law or the law of power,\u201d said Abdelhamid Siyam, a relative of Abu Siyam and a professor at Rutgers University, who spoke Thursday at a press conference organized by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and several other organizations and groups.\n<\/p>\n

Siyam thanked Philadelphia City Council and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for calling for an investigation into Abu Siyam\u2019s death.\n <\/p>\n

\"AbdelhamidAbdelhamid Siyam, a relative of Nasrallah Abu Siyam and a professor at Rutgers University, called for an investigation into Abu Siyam\u2019s death at a press conference in Philadelphia on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Emily Neil\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Councilmember Rue Landau said she and fellow Councilmember Nicolas O\u2019Rourke introduced a resolution Thursday to honor Abu Siyam\u2019s life and call for accountability. The measure was passed unanimously.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was 19. He was not a soldier. He was not engaged in combat. He was trying to protect his family\u2019s sheep when the violence erupted,\u201d Landau said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNasrallah\u2019s life was stolen from him, from his family, from his community, and now all of us are grieving not only the loss of a soul, but the silence surrounding his death,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen an American citizen is killed abroad, there must be accountability and answers for the people who continue their memory.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Shapiro urged Bondi\u2019s office to conduct an investigation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the killing of Mr. Abu Siyam and similar incidents in the region demand a diplomatic response, I hope you will agree that the death of a citizen of our Commonwealth under such circumstances also requires a criminal investigation, as prescribed under the law, to ensure accountability and provide answers to the Abu Siyam family,\u201d Shapiro wrote.\n<\/p>\n

Abu Siyam is the second Palestinian American to be killed by Israeli settlers<\/a> in less than a year. The attacks on the village of Mukhmas, where Abu Siyam lived, are the latest in a surge of violence.\n<\/p>\n

In October 2025, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded the highest number of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages<\/a> in the occupied West Bank since it began collecting data.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of Nasrallah and his family, I add my voice to the growing chorus of elected officials who have called for an investigation into the circumstances of his death, and I join with everyone here today in condemning the occupation, in condemning apartheid, in condemning ethnic cleansing and genocide<\/a>,\u201d said state Sen. Nikil Saval. \u201cTo all who loved Nasrallah, please know that Philadelphia grieves with you. You are not alone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5061,69,71,70,60835],"class_list":["post-130903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-israel","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-resettlement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}