Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the death of Turkish-American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli forces during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank on September 6. Sanders’ demand comes in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s refusal to launch its own inquiry into the killing, despite mounting evidence that Eygi’s death was the result of deliberate action by Israeli forces.
Ayşenur Eygi, 26, a recent graduate of the University of Washington and a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was participating in a protest in Beita, a village in the West Bank, when she was shot in the head, allegedly by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) sniper. The demonstration was aimed at protesting illegal Israeli settlements in the area, which activists have decried as part of an ongoing apartheid system against Palestinians. Eyewitnesses at the scene claim that Eygi was targeted deliberately, describing her death as an execution, not an accident.
Despite these claims, the IDF has maintained that Eygi’s death was unintentional, stating that the fatal shot was aimed at the “key instigator of… a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks” at Israeli forces.
“There will be no accountability if the United States defers to the extremist Israeli government to investigate its own actions,” Sanders said in a statement, addressing the lack of U.S. response to Eygi’s death. He went on to highlight a disturbing pattern of American citizens being killed by Israeli forces without any form of accountability or justice.
Eygi’s killing is far from an isolated incident. Sanders pointed out a series of recent killings of American citizens by Israeli forces, none of which have led to meaningful investigations or consequences. “There was no accountability when 17-year-old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, an American citizen from Louisiana, was shot and killed in January. He was a senior in high school,” Sanders said. “There was no accountability when another 17-year-old American, Mohammad Khdour from Florida, was shot and killed in February.” Both killings took place in the West Bank, with no subsequent action taken by U.S. authorities to investigate or hold the perpetrators accountable.
Sanders also referenced the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, a prominent American-Palestinian journalist who was shot in the head by Israeli military forces while covering a raid in the West Bank in May 2022. Despite the fact that Abu Akleh was clearly marked as press at the time of her death, no one has been held responsible. The killing of American journalist Dylan Collins, targeted by Israeli tank fire in October 2022, further underscores what Sanders describes as a policy of impunity. Collins was wounded alongside six other journalists, one of whom, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, was killed in the attack.
“And there was no accountability when Dylan Collins, an American journalist for Agence France-Presse, was targeted by Israeli tank fire in October. Six journalists were wounded in the attack, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah. The group was clearly marked as press,” Sanders stated.
“These are not mistakes. This is policy: Shoot first, ask no questions later,” Sanders asserted, challenging the notion that these deaths are the result of individual misjudgments. Instead, he characterized them as part of a larger strategy employed by Israeli forces in their occupation of Palestinian territories.
The ongoing violence is not limited to American citizens. Since October, Israeli forces and settlers have killed hundreds of Palestinians, including more than 140 children. Settler violence, often enabled or ignored by Israeli security forces, has led to the destruction of Palestinian homes, businesses, and entire communities. The Biden administration’s continued military aid to Israel, combined with a refusal to independently investigate these deaths, has drawn sharp criticism from progressive lawmakers and activists.
“There has been no accountability for repeated Israeli settler attacks, enabled by security forces, on Palestinian towns and villages,” Sanders said. “No meaningful response to the burning of Palestinian homes and businesses.”
“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 citizens,” Sanders stated.
Sanders’ call for accountability is backed by other progressive voices in Congress. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, along with Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, have all called on the Biden administration to investigate Eygi’s death. The urgency for an independent probe has been heightened by the involvement of high-profile figures like Rachel Corrie’s parents. Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American activist, was killed in 2003 by a U.S.-supplied bulldozer while attempting to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes. Her family continues to fight for justice, seeing Eygi’s death as part of a longstanding pattern of unpunished violence against Americans in the region.
While the Biden administration has yet to respond to these demands, Turkey, of which Eygi was also a citizen, has vowed to seek international arrest warrants for those responsible for her death. This stands in sharp contrast to the U.S. government’s muted response and raises questions about the disparity in how American citizens are treated depending on their nationality and the circumstances of their deaths.
International human rights organizations have also begun pressing for action. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is reportedly considering arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and various Hamas leaders as part of its ongoing investigation into war crimes committed in the region. However, whether this will lead to tangible results remains unclear, as the U.S. has historically resisted any international scrutiny of its ally’s military actions.
“The United States cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of the extremist Israeli government,” Sanders warned. “We cannot allow American citizens and innocent Palestinians to be killed with impunity. We must act.”
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