Three Democrats from Washington state are urging the Biden administration to investigate the death of US citizen Aysenur Eygi during a protest near Shechem (Nablus) last Friday.
In a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Pramila Jayapal requested “an immediate, transparent, credible, and thorough independent US investigation” by the FBI into her death. Meanwhile, Sen. Maria Cantwell urged Blinken and President Joe Biden for an independent review into Eygi’s death in a separate letter, according to MSNBC.
Jayapal and Murray wrote that Eygi’s family and community “deserve to know their government has done everything it can to fully understand what led to her killing, pursue accountability for those involved, and seek to ensure this does not happen again.”
On Tuesday, the IDF announced the findings of the inquiry conducted by its commanders into the incident last Friday in which Eygi was killed.
The inquiry found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot.
The incident took place during a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian Arab suspects burned tires and hurled rocks toward security forces at the Beita Junction.
A Washington Post investigation published Wednesday doubted the IDF’s investigation, claiming Eygi was shot more than half an hour after confrontations between protesters and the IDF had peaked, and after protesters had moved away from Israeli forces.
Hours after the results of the investigation were announced, US President Joe Biden was asked about the death of Eygi and replied, “Apparently, it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground, and just hit by accident. I'm working that out now.”
On Wednesday, however, Biden released a more critical statement of Israel, condemning Eygi’s death as unacceptable.
Later, US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called the killing of Eygi “unacceptable”, and said that the US will press Israel for answers.
Jayapal has a history of anti-Israel statements. In July 2023, she called Israel a “racist state,” before walking her statement back and claiming she was only referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier this month, Jayapal appeared to blame Netanyahu for the deaths of six Israeli hostages who were kidnapped and executed by the Hamas terrorist organization.
In a post on X, she welcomed the strike declared by Israel's national labor union and protests calling for the Israeli government to do more to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
"Today’s labor strike & protests are extremely important. Netanyahu has no interest in a ceasefire — he’s prioritized his own political survival while sacrificing hostages & tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians," Jayapal wrote. "The US must use the entirety of our leverage to end this war."