Family of American woman killed in Israeli-occupied West Bank says U.S. response "even more heartbreaking"
More than two months after American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, allegedly by a member of Israel's security forces, her family tells CBS News their faith in the United States has been shattered due to the lack of any independent criminal investigation.
Eygi's husband Hamid Ali said he was appalled by the reaction of the Biden administration.
"I would hope that the U.S. government is able to implement its own law in this case and withhold, at the very least, funding from its own taxpayers that went to this unit or this soldier that killed one of its own citizens," he told CBS News.
Neither the Biden administration nor any U.S. law enforcement agency has announced an investigation into Eygi's killing. The State Department told CBS News it continues pushing to see the results of a "full, transparent" Israeli probe.
Eygi's sister, Özden Bennett, said the Biden administration's response had made the grieving process "even more heartbreaking and painful."
"No family should have to experience this," she told CBS News, with tears in her eyes.
Bennett said that growing up in the U.S., she had developed an idealistic vision of the country and its values but her sister's death "shattered" those ideas.
"It feels like they don't care about all U.S. citizens the same way," she said. "The U.S. government, or the Biden administration particularly, not opening an investigation makes us question why it is not being equally treated."
Witnesses, her family, and the group Eygi had joined at a protest have said the U.S.-Turkish dual national was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper as she stood under a tree in the West Bank city of Nablus.
She was shot not long after joining a protest organized by the International Solidarity Movement, at which the Israel Defense Forces said some demonstrators had thrown projectiles at troops. Witnesses said she was shot after the protest, and away from where it had taken place.
The IDF said an initial inquiry found it was "highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally" by a member of the Israeli security forces. The IDF told CBS News on Thursday that it was unable to provide any further detail on its ongoing investigation.
A State Department spokesperson told CBS News last week that the U.S. has continued to press Israel for "a full, transparent, and rapid 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 whether the U.S. government intended to launch its own criminal investigation into Eygi's killing, the White House referred CBS News back to President Biden's statement from September, in which he said Israel had "acknowledged its responsibility for Aysenur's death," and that the U.S. had "full access to Israel's preliminary investigation, and expects continued access as the investigation continues, so that we can have confidence in the result."
But Eygi's father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, said it seemed to have become the norm for the U.S. government to downplay the killing of Americans by Israeli forces. He said his daughter's death reminded him of the deaths of other U.S. nationals in the Palestinian territories, particularly Rachel Corrie and Shireen Abu Akleh.
"It's beyond disappointment," the bereaved father told CBS News. "The reaction of the U.S. government only asserts that Israel could kill anyone and there would be no consequences."
He emigrated to the Seattle area in 1999, when his daughter was 10 months old, and was naturalized in 2005. Aysenur Eygi grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from the University of Washington in the spring of 2024. She had planned to start a PhD program after taking a gap year off.
"The safety of American citizens should not be tied to their ideological support to Israel," Eygi's father told CBS News.
Samah Park Imtiaz was a close friend of Eygi. Sobbing quietly, she recalled to CBS News their last phone call, when Eygi told her how much she missed her cat.
"I am still in a dream state when I think about what happened," Imtiaz said. "[Biden] said whoever hurt Americans would face consequences. We are Americans and we deserve answers."
In September, 103 members of the U.S. Congress signed a letter to Mr. Biden urging the administration to launch an independent investigation into Eygi's killing.
"To walk away without asking further questions gives Israeli forces unacceptable license to act with impunity," the lawmakers said.
Brad Parker, a member of the legal team supporting Eygi's family, called the Biden administration's response thus far "underwhelming," and said it was "concerning" that there had not been a "strong sign to pursue justice for Aysenur."
"I think it's the policy at this point, which can be characterized as providing impunity to Israeli forces, even in the killing of American citizens," he told CBS News. "The focus has been on having the Israeli military adjust [its] rules of engagement, rather than justice and accountability for specific killings of American citizens."
Eygi's husband, Ali, said Israel's close alliance with the U.S. should not make it immune to consequences.
"Israel has a history of not being forthcoming with any kind of investigation and, when they are, it is largely inadequate what they come up with," he said.
His sister-in-law said the Biden administration had yet to address the family's pain, "aside from condolences."
"If the U.S. government does not respond to cases like hers, which historically they have not, Israel has the green light to continue acting with impunity and killing other citizens," Bennett asserted.