Family of American woman killed in Israeli-controlled West Bank says US response ‘heartbreaking’

More than two months after the American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who is suspected of being a member of the Israeli army, his family tells CBS News that their faith in the United States has been shattered by the lack of an independent criminal investigation.

Eygi’s husband Hamid Ali said he was shocked by the reaction of the Biden administration.

“I hope that the US government will be able to apply its law in this case and withhold, at least, the taxpayer funding that goes to this unit or this soldier who killed one of the citizens,” he said. CBS News.

The Biden administration and any US law enforcement agency have announced an investigation into Eygi’s murder. The State Department told CBS News that it continues to seek the results of a “full, transparent” investigation into Israel.

Eygi’s sister, Özden Bennett, said the Biden administration’s response made the grieving process “sad and more painful.”

“No family should have to go through this,” she told CBS News, with tears in her eyes.

Bennett said that growing up in the US, he had a reasonable view of the country and its values ​​but the death of his sister “shattered” those views.

“It sounds like they don’t care about all American citizens the same way,” she said. “The US government, or the Biden administration in particular, not opening an investigation makes us question why it can’t be treated the same way.”

Witnesses, his family and the group that Eygi joined in the protest have joined said this US-Turkish man was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while standing under a tree in the West Bank city of Nablus.

He was shot shortly after participating in a protest organized by the International Solidarity Movement, where the Israeli Defense Forces said some protesters were throwing bombs at soldiers. Eyewitnesses said he was shot after the protest, far from where it had happened.

The IDF said a preliminary investigation found “it is possible that he was hit indirectly and unintentionally” by a member of the Israeli security forces. The IDF told CBS News on Thursday that it could not provide further details about its ongoing investigation.

A State Department spokesman told CBS News last week that the US continued to press Israel for a “full, transparent, and prompt investigation.”

“We are eager to see the findings as soon as possible, including any appropriate accountability measures that will be taken,” the spokesperson added.

Asked if the US government intends to launch its own criminal investigation into Eygi’s murder, the White House referred CBS News to President Biden’s statement from September, in which he said Israel “admitted responsibility for Aysenur’s death,” and that the US “full access to the initial investigation of Israel, and we expect continued access as the investigation continues, so we can be optimistic about the outcome.”

But Eygi’s father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, said it seems that it has become commonplace for the US government to downplay the killing of Americans by Israeli forces. He said his daughter’s death reminded him of the deaths of other Americans in the Palestinian territories, in particular. Rachel Corrie again Shireen Abu Akleh.

“It’s beyond embarrassing,” the bereaved father told CBS News. “The US government’s response only asserts that Israel can kill anyone and there will be no consequences.”

She moved to the Seattle area in 1999, when her daughter was 10 months old, and was born in 2005. Aysenur Eygi grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from the University of Washington in the spring of 2024. He had planned to start a PhD program after taking a gap year.

“The safety of American citizens should not be combined with their support for Israel,” Eygi’s father told CBS News.

Samah Park Imtiaz was Eygi’s best friend. Sobbing silently, she remembered their last call to CBS News, when Eygi told her how much she missed her cat.

“I’m in a dream when I think about what happened,” said Imtiaz. “[Biden] he said that anyone who harms the American people will face the consequences. We are Americans and we deserve answers.”

In September, 103 members of the US Congress signed a letter to Mr. Biden urging the administration to conduct an independent investigation into Eygi’s murder.

“Leaving without asking any further questions gives the Israeli military an unacceptable license to act innocently,” the lawmakers said.

Brad Parker, a member of the legal team supporting Eygi’s family, called the response of the Biden administration so far “extremely difficult,” and said that it was “concerning” that there had been “no strong sign of pursuing justice for Aysenur.”

“I think it’s a policy right now, which can be seen as impunity for the Israeli forces, even for the killing of American citizens,” he told CBS News. “The focus is on preparing the Israeli army [its] rules of engagement, there is justice and accountability for certain killings of American citizens.”

Eygi’s husband, Ali, said Israel’s close relationship with the US should not make it immune to the consequences.

“Israel has a history of not coming up with any kind of investigation and, when it does, what they come up with is not enough,” he said.

His sister-in-law said the Biden administration had yet to deal with the family’s pain, “without words of condolence.”

“If the US government doesn’t respond to crimes like his, which historically it doesn’t, Israel has a green light to continue to operate with impunity and kill more civilians,” Bennett asserted.