Washington, DC – One yr after Israeli forces killed United States citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, her husband, Hamid Ali, says confusion and sorrow proceed to grip his life.
“It’s been very painful adjusting to life with out Aysenur – an empty home, seeing the impact it’s had on her father and her household. The phrase I’d use to summarise is complicated,” Ali advised Al Jazeera.
Advisable Tales
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Ezgi Eygi, whose first identify is pronounced Aysha-nour, was fatally shot by Israeli forces whereas taking part in a protest in opposition to an unlawful settler outpost within the occupied West Financial institution on September 6, 2024.
As Israel intensifies its assault on Gaza, violence within the West Financial institution has additionally been on the rise. At the least 10 US residents have been killed by Israeli troopers and settlers since 2022.
The administrations of Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have ignored calls by Ezgi Eygi’s household for a US-led investigation into her killing whereas Washington has continued to supply Israel with billions of {dollars} in navy support.
Ozden Bennett, Ezgi Eygi’s sister, stated she understands that justice might not be within reach however that doesn’t shake the household’s resolve to maintain the slain activist’s reminiscence alive.
“We’re dedicated to the long-haul journey of looking for justice and accountability and discovering which means within the strategy of doing that, even when it doesn’t occur instantly or maybe ever. I’m hopeful it should,” Bennett advised Al Jazeera.
“I see us persevering with to ask for accountability and justice for my sister as a result of it’s the appropriate factor to do and she or he deserves that. Each life taken senselessly by Israel deserves that.”
Remembering Aysenur
Ezgi Eygi, who was of Turkish descent and lived in Seattle, Washington, was 26 when she was killed. Those that knew her stated she was joyous and empathetic.
She had been engaged in activism from a younger age and was deeply moved by injustices within the US and overseas. Each Ali and Bennett described her as nearly “childlike” in her compassion and playfulness.
“She all the time had that sort of childlike essence to her, that curiosity, that silliness,” Bennett stated. “She was such a particular, candy – generally annoying – sister that I simply miss a lot.”
Ali believes it was that authenticity that drove her to activism.
“She was somebody who needed to dwell by her values and her beliefs, and she or he needed to say how she felt,” he advised Al Jazeera.
“In order that’s the sort of individual she was, and that’s precisely why she felt like doing the activism that she did within the [United] States wasn’t sufficient. She felt like going to the West Financial institution was the following factor that she was in a position to do.”
At the least two extra US residents have been killed within the West Financial institution since Ezgi Eygi was shot.
In July, settlers beat Florida-born 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet to demise. Lower than three weeks later, Khamis Ayyad, 40, a father of 5 and former Chicago resident, was additionally killed in one other settler assault.
In each instances, the households are calling for a US investigation into the killings, citing statutes that might allow such an investigation, together with the US-Israel Mutual Authorized Help Treaty.
However the Trump administration has solely referred to as on Israel to analyze its personal abuses. Israel not often finds wrongdoing within the conduct of its forces in opposition to Palestinians and their supporters.
Equally, when Ezgi Eygi was killed final yr, the administration of then-President Biden referred to as on Israel to analyze the incident, but it surely didn’t launch its personal inquiry.
‘The hypocrisy is staggering’
That lack of accountability is a recurring sample. In all 10 instances of People being killed by Israeli settlers and troopers since 2022, no felony prices have been introduced in opposition to the perpetrators
The victims embrace veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot within the head whereas carrying a vivid blue jacket labelled “press”.
Rights advocates have referred to as the inaction a type of impunity for individuals who kill People abroad. They hint the development again a long time, way back to 2003, when an Israeli bulldozer ran over activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza.
She had been making an attempt to guard a Palestinian residence from demolition on the time of her demise.
Corrie, who was additionally from Washington state, is now one of many icons of the Palestinian trigger within the West. Nonetheless, nobody has been held accountable for her killing.
Ali drew a parallel between his spouse’s demise and Corrie’s killing.
“It was the identical with Rachel Corrie, and that was 20-plus years in the past, so this isn’t something new sadly,” he stated.
“We all know the sample, but it surely’s nonetheless irritating all the identical and intensely hypocritical.”
Regardless of that frustration, Ezgi Eygi’s members of the family have been bringing their calls for to US lawmakers and officers in an effort to maintain the case alive.
Final yr, they met with then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however in response to Ali and Bennett, the highest US diplomat conveyed an incapacity – a proverbial shrugging of the shoulders – to hunt justice.
However days earlier than Ezgi Eygi was killed, the US Division of Justice filed “terrorism, homicide conspiracy and sanctions-evasion” prices in opposition to Hamas leaders after the killing of the US-Israeli captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Gaza.
For Bennett, the distinction within the US strategy is evident. “It sends a message that not all American lives are equal,” she advised Al Jazeera.
Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director on the US-based rights group DAWN, stated the US failure to pursue accountability for Ezgi Eygi and different US residents killed by Israel exhibits that Washington “values Israeli impunity greater than American lives”.
“The hypocrisy is staggering. When US residents are killed by anybody else, the US authorities mobilises each diplomatic, financial and navy software at its disposal to demand justice and accountability,” Jarrar advised Al Jazeera.
“However when Israel kills People, the US accepts Israeli ‘investigations’ and excuses, sends extra weapons and shields Israel from worldwide accountability.”
‘Irrelevant’ Israeli probe
An preliminary Israeli navy report after the killing of Ezgi Eygi stated she was seemingly killed by “oblique and unintended” fireplace. However witnesses have stated she was focused within the head by a sniper.
There have been reviews {that a} broader Israeli investigation into the incident was additionally launched, however there have been no public bulletins about its outcomes.
The Israeli authorities’s Overseas Press Division didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s request for remark.
Bennett stated the household is just not anticipating any measure of accountability to come back out of an Israeli probe.
“The Israeli investigation – to us – is irrelevant as a result of it’s not applicable or acceptable to have Israel, the perpetrator of the homicide, examine itself,” she stated.
For Ali, justice for Ezgi Eygi might seem elusive, but when her reminiscence may help within the liberation of the Palestinian folks, he stated, that might ease his sense of loss.
“I’m not essentially assured that it’ll occur anytime quickly or that accountability will come anytime quickly, however I do know in a single kind or one other, it should come,” Ali stated.