WEST BANK—Aysenur Eygi, 26, an American and graduate of the University of Washington, was killed in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Friday, September 6, while protesting the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Eygi had dual citizenship with the United States and Turkey. Her family moved to the United States when she was still an infant and she grew up in Seattle, where she was living before visiting the West Bank to join the activist efforts associated with the International Solidarity Movement. She was participating in a protest in a settler outpost around 2:30 p.m. when Israeli troops allegedly shot her in the head. She died shortly after being transported to a nearby hospital.
She was the third U.S. civilian to be killed in the West Bank in the last year and one of thousands of causalities, both Palestinian and Israeli, that have resulted in Israel’s retaliation against Hamas-led Palestine for its attack on Israel in October of 2023, and the second University of Washington graduate to have been killed in relation to the conflict. Dr. Hayim Katsman was killed in his home during the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.
The Israeli military admitted to firing the shots but said they were still investigating the incident, the New York Times reported Friday.
According to Eygi’s former UW Professor, she was an avid activist and morally opposed to injustice. Before traveling to the West Bank to protest Israeli settlements she participated in a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation, and was extremely critical of the Turkish government’s treatment of minority populations, ABCNews reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned the killing of Eygi, calling the act “deplorable” while saying it’s important to “gather the facts.”
The White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by the incident and is now calling upon Israel to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. Democrats who have long opposed the U.S. support of Israel during its invasion of Palestine are now rebuking U.S. President Joe Biden for his silence and lack of intervention in the conflict while supporting the Israeli military.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released the following statement regarding the Eygi’s death:
“The death of Aysenur Eygi is a tragedy. My office has been in contact with the State Department and our U.S. Embassy in Israel regarding her death. I will do whatever I can to help her family at this difficult time. Our hearts and prayers are with her family and her many friends in the greater Seattle area.”
Darya Farivar, who is running for Washington State Representative for the 46th legislative district also stood in grief and solidarity for Eygi stating:
“Aysenur believed that we need to do more– that solidarity is not just an ideal, but a responsibility we all share. Her life and legacy should ignite in all of us the determination to create a future where no family suffers such loss. We owe it to her memory – and to each other – to end this violence and build a world rooted in freedom, justice, and human dignity.”
