{"id":402842,"date":"2025-09-06T14:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T14:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/402842\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T14:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T14:22:13","slug":"one-year-on-family-of-us-citizen-killed-by-israel-still-seeking-justice-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/402842\/","title":{"rendered":"One year on, family of US citizen killed by Israel still seeking justice | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, DC \u2013<\/strong> One year after Israeli forces killed United States citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, her husband, Hamid Ali, says confusion and sorrow continue to grip his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very painful adjusting to life without Aysenur \u2013 an empty house, seeing the effect it\u2019s had on her father and her family. The word I\u2019d use to summarise is confusing,\u201d Ali told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Ezgi Eygi, whose first name is pronounced Aysha-nour, was fatally shot by Israeli forces while participating in a protest against an illegal settler outpost in the occupied West Bank<\/a> on September 6, 2024.<\/p>\n

As Israel intensifies its assault on Gaza, violence in the West Bank has also been on the rise. At least 10 US citizens<\/a> have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers since 2022.<\/p>\n

The administrations of Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have ignored calls by Ezgi Eygi\u2019s family for a US-led investigation into her killing while Washington has continued to provide Israel with billions of dollars in military aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ozden Bennett, Ezgi Eygi\u2019s sister, said she understands that justice may not be within sight but that does not shake the family\u2019s resolve to keep the slain activist\u2019s memory alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to the long-haul journey of seeking justice and accountability and finding meaning in the process of doing that, even if it doesn\u2019t happen immediately or perhaps ever. I\u2019m hopeful it will,\u201d Bennett told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see us continuing to ask for accountability and justice for my sister because it\u2019s the right thing to do and she deserves that. Every life taken senselessly<\/a> by Israel deserves that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remembering Aysenur<\/p>\n

Ezgi Eygi, who was of Turkish descent and lived in Seattle, Washington, was 26 when she was killed. Those who knew her said she was joyous<\/a> and empathetic.<\/p>\n

She had been engaged in activism from a young age and was deeply moved by injustices in the US and abroad. Both Ali and Bennett described her as almost \u201cchildlike\u201d in her compassion and playfulness.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always had that kind of childlike essence to her, that curiosity, that silliness,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cShe was such a special, sweet \u2013 sometimes annoying \u2013 sister that I just miss so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali believes it was that authenticity that drove her to activism.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was someone who had to live by her values and her beliefs, and she had to say how she felt,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s the kind of person she was, and that\u2019s exactly why she felt like doing the activism that she did in the [United] States wasn\u2019t enough. She felt like going to the West Bank was the next thing that she was able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least two more US citizens have been killed in the West Bank since Ezgi Eygi was shot.<\/p>\n

In July, settlers beat Florida-born 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet<\/a> to death. Less than three weeks later, Khamis Ayyad, 40, a father of five<\/a> and former Chicago resident, was also killed in another settler attack.<\/p>\n

In both cases, the families are calling for a US investigation<\/a> into the killings, citing statutes that would enable such an investigation, including the US-Israel Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.<\/p>\n

But the Trump administration has only called on Israel to investigate its own abuses. Israel rarely finds wrongdoing in the conduct of its forces against Palestinians and their supporters.<\/p>\n

Similarly, when Ezgi Eygi was killed last year, the administration of then-President Biden called on Israel to investigate the incident, but it failed to launch its own inquiry.<\/p>\n

\u2018The hypocrisy is staggering\u2019<\/p>\n

That lack of accountability is a recurring pattern. In all 10 cases of Americans being killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers since 2022, no criminal charges have been brought against the perpetrators<\/p>\n

The victims include veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh<\/a>, who was shot in the head while wearing a bright blue jacket labelled \u201cpress\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rights advocates have called the inaction a form of impunity for those who kill Americans overseas. They trace the trend back decades, as far back as 2003, when an Israeli bulldozer ran over activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza.<\/p>\n

She had been trying to protect a Palestinian home from demolition at the time of her death.<\/p>\n

Corrie, who was also from Washington state, is now one of the icons of the Palestinian cause in the West. Still, no one has been held accountable for her killing.<\/p>\n

Ali drew a parallel between his wife\u2019s death and Corrie\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the same with Rachel Corrie, and that was 20-plus years ago, so this isn\u2019t anything new unfortunately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the pattern, but it\u2019s still frustrating all the same and extremely hypocritical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that frustration, Ezgi Eygi\u2019s family members have been bringing their demands to US lawmakers and officials in an effort to keep the case alive.<\/p>\n

Last year, they met with then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but according to Ali and Bennett, the top US diplomat conveyed an inability \u2013 a proverbial shrugging of the shoulders \u2013 to seek justice.<\/p>\n

But days before Ezgi Eygi was killed, the US Department of Justice \u200bfiled \u201cterrorism, murder conspiracy and sanctions-evasion\u201d charges against Hamas leaders after the killing of the US-Israeli captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin<\/a> in Gaza.<\/p>\n

For Bennett, the contrast in the US approach is clear. \u201cIt sends a message that not all American lives are equal,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director at the US-based rights group DAWN, said the US failure to pursue accountability for Ezgi Eygi and other US citizens killed by Israel shows that Washington \u201cvalues Israeli impunity more than American lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hypocrisy is staggering. When US citizens are killed by anyone else, the US government mobilises every diplomatic, economic and military tool at its disposal to demand justice and accountability,\u201d Jarrar told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when Israel kills Americans, the US accepts Israeli \u2018investigations\u2019 and excuses, sends more weapons and shields Israel from international accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Irrelevant\u2019 Israeli probe<\/p>\n

An initial Israeli military report after the killing of Ezgi Eygi said she was likely killed by \u201cindirect and unintended\u201d fire. But witnesses have said<\/a> she was targeted in the head by a sniper.<\/p>\n

There have been reports that a broader Israeli investigation into the incident was also launched, but there have been no public announcements about its results.<\/p>\n

The Israeli government\u2019s Foreign Press Department did not respond to Al Jazeera\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Bennett said the family is not expecting any measure of accountability to come out of an Israeli probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israeli investigation \u2013 to us \u2013 is irrelevant because it\u2019s not appropriate or acceptable to have Israel, the perpetrator of the murder, investigate itself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Ali, justice for Ezgi Eygi may appear elusive, but if her memory can help in the liberation of the Palestinian people, he said, that would ease his sense of loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not necessarily confident that it will happen anytime soon or that accountability will come anytime soon, but I know in one form or another, it will come,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington, DC \u2013 One year after Israeli forces killed United States citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, her husband, Hamid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[32,2194,4582,837,7424,839,12,54009,1814,49,978,286,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-402842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-gaza","10":"tag-human-rights","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","13":"tag-middle-east","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-occupied-west-bank","16":"tag-palestine","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-us-canada","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115157804254530476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}