Nine US lawmakers demand answers on Turkish-American activist's death in West Bank
US Senator Peter Welch shared a letter on X on Tuesday, signed by eight other Democratic lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, demanding answers from the Biden administration on Israel's killing of Turkish-American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi last year.
The letter is dated 3 January.
"Detailed statements of international, Israeli, and Palestinian eyewitnesses, as well as a Washington Post inquiry that included interviewing 13 eyewitnesses and reviewing more than 50 videos and photographs, describe a significantly different sequence of events" than the Israelis, the letter said.
"This case is disturbingly like the fatal shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli soldier located nearly 200 meters away. Shireen and Aysenur each died from a single gunshot
wound to the head."
The lawmakers list questions about what instigated the shooting, what possible threat Eygi could have caused, and what the US Department of Justice has done about it, if at all.
The Biden administration is only in office for another 5 days.
Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a U.S.-Turkish citizen, was killed by Israeli forces while attending a peaceful protest in the West Bank.
— Senator Peter Welch (@SenPeterWelch) January 14, 2025
There's no evidence to suggest that she was a threat.
I'm leading my colleagues in demanding answers from the State Department. pic.twitter.com/RVdnYMxFhp