Sanders Urges DOJ Probe Into Israeli Killing of American Activist Ayşenur Eygi

Days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled that there would be no U.S. inquiry into Israel's killing of Turkish American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday called on the Department of Justice to open an investigation of the young campaigner's death.

Eygi, a 26-year-old activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and recent graduate from the University of Washington, was shot in the head, allegedly by an IDF sniper, during a September 6 demonstration in Beita against Israel's illegal apartheid settlements. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces killed Eygi with "a deliberate shot to the head."

"There will be no accountability if the United States defers to the extremist Israeli government to investigate its own actions."

Sanders noted that both U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, both called for "full accountability" for Eygi's killers.

"Let's be clear: There will be no accountability if the United States defers to the extremist Israeli government to investigate its own actions," he said in a statement.

Sanders continued:

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.

There was no accountability when another 17-year-old American, Mohammad Khdour from Florida, was shot and killed in February.

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.

There was no accountability when American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head by the Israeli military in May 2022. She was also clearly marked as press.

And there was no accountability when another American, 78-year-old Omar Assad, died after being bound and gagged by Israeli security forces.

"None of these Americans were armed," Sanders stressed. "None of them posed a threat."

Sanders also mentioned the hundreds of Palestinians—including more than 140 children—who have been killed by Israeli occupation forces and settler colonists in the West Bank since October.

"There has been no accountability for repeated Israeli settler attacks, enabled by security forces, on Palestinian towns and villages," he said. "No meaningful response to the burning of Palestinian homes and businesses."

"This is a clear pattern," Sanders contended. "These are not mistakes. This is policy: Shoot first, ask no questions later."

"These are not mistakes. This is policy: Shoot first, ask no questions later."

"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," the senator said.

"The U.S. Justice Department must open its own, independent investigations into these attacks on American citizens by the Israeli security forces," he asserted. "The FBI should immediately collect testimony and forensic evidence. And President Biden must act to bring real pressure to bear to change Israeli policy."

"The United States cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of the extremist Israeli government," Sanders added. "We cannot allow American citizens and innocent Palestinians to be killed with impunity. We must act."

Sanders' admonition came a day after a trio of Democratic U.S. lawmakers from Washington state—Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal—demanded the Biden administration investigate Eygi's death.

The parents of Rachel Corrie—a 23-year-old American ISM activist who was crushed to death by a U.S.-supplied bulldozer while trying to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in 2003—this week also called for an independent investigation into Eygi's killing.

While admitting that it is "highly likely" that Israeli troops killed Eygi, IDF officials called the killing "unintentional," claiming the fatal shot "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of... a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks" at occupation forces.

Biden came under fire for repeating Israel's claim, with observers noting that time and again, journalistic and other investigations have concluded that Israeli forces deliberately targeted their victims.

In stark contrast to the U.S. response to Eygi's killing, Turkey—of which she was also a citizen—said it would seek international arrest warrants for whoever shot her.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is trying to obtain arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and a trio of Hamas leaders—at least one of whom has been assassinated.