The family of an American who was killed by Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday is calling for President Biden to order an investigation into the shooting instead of relying on Israel to investigate itself.
Aysenur Eyzi Eygi, 26, was killed while protesting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank village of Beita, a demonstration organized by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). An autopsy report confirmed she was killed by an Israeli sniper bullet that hit her head. Eygi was taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Nablus, where she was pronounced dead.
“A US citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter,” Eygi’s family said in a statement.
The White House said that it was “deeply disturbed” by Eygi’s killing but did not blame the shooting on Israeli forces and said it asked the Israeli government to investigate the incident.
“We welcome the White House’s statement of condolences, but given the circumstances of Aysenur’s killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate,” Eygi’s family said. “We call on President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.”
The Israeli military admitted that it fired at the demonstrators, saying it “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.” But eyewitnesses say Eygi and the other demonstrators posed no threat to Israeli troops.
“It was a direct shot to the head, it was not an accident. She was being extra safe out of all of the volunteers, she and her friends were standing the furthest back, in the safest spot that we thought,” Vivi, an American activist who was at the ISM protest, told Haaretz.
Eygi was born in Turkey and moved to the US with her family before she turned one. She recently graduated from the University of Washington, where she studied Psychology and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures.
“She was active on campus in student-led protests, advocating for human dignity, and calling for an end to the violence against the people of Palestine,” Eygi’s family said. “Aysenur felt compelled to travel to the West Bank to stand in solidarity with Palestinian civilians who continue to endure ongoing repressing and violence.”
Eygi was also a Turkish citizen, and the Turkish government released a statement calling her killing a “murder” carried out by the Israeli government.
“Yesterday, they (Israel) heinously murdered our young child, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. To date, they have killed over 40,000 innocent civilians, including 17,000 children,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. “They attack barbarically and shed blood indiscriminately, whether it be children, women, youth, or the elderly.”
Earlier this year, two 17-year-old Palestinian American boys — Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar — were shot and killed in the West Bank in two separate incidents. Evidence suggests Israeli settlers killed Khdour, and witnesses said Jabbar was shot by two Israelis — one a civilian and the other either a soldier or police officer.
In 2022, Israeli forces shot and killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera. She was shot in the neck while wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet that were both clearly labeled “PRESS.”
