A group of over 100 Democrats in Congress is urging the Biden administration to open an independent investigation into Israel’s killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.
In a letter sent this week, the lawmakers ask for the White House, State Department and Justice Department to probe whether Eygi’s killing could be classified as a homicide.
One of the outcomes of this investigation, they say, should be a report on all of the evidence found and the methodology for finding it delivered to Eygi’s family. They also demand a response from the administration detailing what they know about Eygi’s death and whether the U.S. is planning on conducting an investigation.
“Given the evidence, we believe the United States must independently investigate whether this was a homicide. To walk away without asking further questions gives Israeli forces unacceptable license to act with impunity. There must be accountability for Ms. Eygi’s death,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter was spearheaded by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington) and was signed by 102 lawmakers, including outspoken supporters of Palestinian rights like Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Cori Bush (D-Missouri). Ten senators signed on, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and others who have spoken out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including Senators Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland).
The lawmakers say they were “deeply disturbed” by the Israeli military’s initial conclusions absolving themselves of responsibility for Eygi’s death, pointing out that an investigation by The Washington Post has debunked Israel’s narrative.
An Israeli soldier shot and killed Eygi after she participated in a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on September 6. Eygi, who was 26 years old, was standing in an olive grove when an Israeli soldier shot her in the head, shortly after the military had forcibly dispersed protesters.
Israeli military officials found in their investigation that they had killed Eygi “indirectly and unintentionally” and characterized the protest as a “violent riot.” However, witness testimony and photo and video taken in the time around the killing contradict those claims.
Despite the evidence contradicting Israel’s narrative — and the Israeli military’s track record of lying to cover up their own violations — President Joe Biden has, in some of his only public statements about Eygi, repeated Israel’s account of events. Roughly a week after Eygi’s death, Biden said, without evidence, that a bullet “ricocheted off the ground” and hit Eygi by accident.
Eygi’s family said that Biden’s statement was “insensitive and false” and represented further complicity from the administration in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
Biden has not spoken about the incident in public forums since, despite numerous calls for his administration to investigate the killing and the government of Turkey, from which Eygi held dual citizenship, having opened its own probe.
Earlier this month, Sanders said in a statement calling for an investigation that there will be no accountability for Eygi’s killers or Israeli forces at large if the U.S. doesn’t investigate.
“By continuing to credulously accept the explanations of an extremist Israeli government whose stated goal is to annex the West Bank and push Palestinians off their land, the United States makes a mockery of its values and abdicates its responsibility to investigate and respond to attacks on its own citizens,” Sanders said.