Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) are calling on the Biden administration to conduct an independent probe into Israel’s killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, as officials have been relying on Israel’s own flawed investigation into her death.
In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the two lawmakers call for an “immediate, transparent, credible, and thorough independent U.S. investigation” into Eygi’s killing. They raise alarm that U.S. officials have allowed Israel to kill U.S. citizens in the past with impunity.
“Our hearts are with her family, friends, colleagues, and community, all of whom are devastated by her killing and deserve to know their government has done everything it can to fully understand what led to her killing, pursue accountability for those involved, and seek to ensure this does not happen again,” said Jayapal and Murray.
They then raised Israel’s killings of multiple American citizens in the occupied West Bank, like two 17-year-old boys who Israelis killed earlier this year and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh — killings that have either been swept aside by U.S. officials or completely ignored, seemingly to erase their existence entirely.
“We fear that if this pattern of impunity does not end with Ms. Eygi, it will only continue to escalate. It is imperative that the United States take concrete and decisive action to better protect American citizens,” the lawmakers said. They then asked the administration to indicate whether they will pursue an investigation and to release the knowledge they have of her killing within the next two weeks.
The lawmakers’ letter adds to pressure on the administration to conduct an independent investigation into Eygi’s killing. Her family have also repeatedly asked for a probe and have noted that Biden officials haven’t even contacted them to offer condolences for her killing, despite Biden officials claiming that they are “deeply concerned” about her death.
So far, in the week following Eygi’s killing, U.S. officials have deflected questions about her death and have not said if they will take any meaningful steps to pursue justice or accountability. Instead, they are indicating that the administration will not do anything to pressure Israel into stopping its rampant killings of civilians, rather giving Israeli forces the greenlight by continuing to send Israel weapons.
On Tuesday, Biden repeated a line from Israel’s supposed investigation into Eygi’s killing, saying that her death was accidental. This sparked outrage from advocates, who pointed out the many times that Israel has purposefully targeted civilians and those challenging the Israeli occupation, as Eygi was doing when they killed her.
In deflecting and defaulting to the Israeli position, U.S. officials appear to be following the same playbook they deployed when Israeli forces killed Abu Akleh as she was reporting on an Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank in 2022. Then, amid activist pressure, the Biden administration feigned concern over her killing and called for accountability, but ultimately defaulted to relying only on Israel’s account of the incident.
Months after her death, reports emerged that the Department of Justice was investigating her killing — but the administration distanced itself from the probe when asked, and has not since released any conclusions from that supposed investigation.
Other lawmakers have also called for accountability for Eygi’s killers. Last week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) condemned the Biden administration for its lack of action on Israel’s killing of Americans in the occupied West Bank.
“[T]he Biden Administration has not been doing enough to pursue justice and accountability” for Americans killed by Israeli forces, Van Hollen said. “The Biden Administration must do more to hold the Netanyahu Government accountable and use American influence to demand the prosecution of those responsible for harm against American citizens. If the Netanyahu Government will not pursue justice for Americans, the U.S. Department of Justice must.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said that Eygi’s killing, as well as Israel’s bombings of its designated “safe zone” in Gaza this week, are the latest evidence that the U.S. must stop sending weapons to Israel.
“This week: 19 people killed and scores injured in a strike in a ‘humanitarian zone’ in Gaza. An American shot in the head in the West Bank. Now, another school bombed, killing 14 people, including 6 UN aid workers,” said Sanders. “Enough is enough. No more money for Netanyahu’s war machine.”