The Israeli military has killed a number of unarmed protesters on Israel’s border with Syria for the second time in less than a month. Up to 23 people were killed and over 350 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators who stormed the border area from Syria. The protesters had gathered to mark the 44th anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria along with the West Bank, Gaza, and Sinai desert. There is no evidence any of the demonstrators carried weapons. They had entered the buffer zone on the border by cutting through wires and crawling on the ground. In a statement, the Obama administration refused to condemn the killings, suggesting the shootings fell within Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Thirteen Palestinians were killed when Israeli troops opened fire on protesters at the Syrian border and other crossings last month on the day marking the anniversary of Israel’s founding, what Palestinians call the Nakba, or the catastrophe.