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 instructed Al Jazeera.
Advisable Tales
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Eygi, whose first identify is pronounced Aysha-Nour, was fatally shot by Israeli forces whereas taking part in a protest towards an unlawful settler outpost within the occupied West Bank 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 very least 10 US citizens have been killed by Israeli troopers and settlers since 2022.
The administrations of presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have up to now ignored calls by Eygi’s household for a US-led investigation into her killing, whereas persevering with to offer Israel with billions of {dollars} in military aid.
Ozden Bennett, Eygi’s sister, mentioned she understands that justice is probably not 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 would,” Bennett instructed 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 he or she deserves that. Each life taken senselessly by Israel deserves that.”
Remembering Aysenur
Eygi, who was of Turkish descent and lived in Seattle, Washington, was 26 when she was killed. Those that knew her say 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 virtually “childlike” in her compassion and playfulness.
“She at all times had that form of childlike essence to her, that curiosity, that silliness,” Bennett mentioned. “She was such a particular, candy – typically 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 he or she needed to say how she felt,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
“In order that’s the form of individual she was, and that’s precisely why she felt like doing the activism that she did within the 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.”
Violence towards Palestinians by Israeli settlers and troopers within the occupied West Financial institution has deepened because the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza in October 2023.
At the very least two extra US residents have been killed within the territory since Eygi was shot.
In July, settlers beat Florida-born 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet to demise. Lower than three weeks later, Khamis Ayyad, a father of five and former Chicago resident, was additionally killed in one other settler assault.
In each circumstances, the households are calling for a US probe into the killings, citing statutes that will allow such an investigation, together with the US-Israel Mutual Authorized Help Treaty (MLAT).
However the Trump administration has solely known as on Israel to analyze its personal abuses. Israel hardly ever finds wrongdoing within the conduct of its forces towards Palestinians and their supporters.
Equally, when Eygi was killed final yr, the administration of then-President Biden known as on Israel to analyze the incident, however it did not launch its personal probe.
‘The hypocrisy is staggering’
That lack of accountability is a recurring sample. In all 10 circumstances of Individuals being killed by Israeli settlers and troopers since 2022, no legal prices have been introduced towards the perpetrators
The victims embrace veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot within the head whereas sporting a brilliant blue jacket labelled “press”.
Rights advocates have known as the inaction a type of impunity for individuals who kill Individuals abroad. They hint the pattern again many years, way back to 2003, when an Israeli bulldozer ran over activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza.
She had been attempting to guard a Palestinian house 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 mentioned.
“We all know the sample, however it’s nonetheless irritating all the identical and very hypocritical.”
Regardless of that frustration, 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 line with Ali and Bennett, the highest US diplomat conveyed an incapability – a proverbial shrugging of the shoulders – to hunt justice.
However days earlier than Eygi was killed, the US Division of Justice filed “terrorism, homicide conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion” prices towards 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 instructed Al Jazeera.
Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director on the US-based rights group DAWN, mentioned the US failure to pursue accountability for Eygi and different US residents killed by Israel reveals 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 army device at its disposal to demand justice and accountability,” Jarrar instructed Al Jazeera.
“However when Israel kills Individuals, the US accepts Israeli ‘investigations’ and excuses, sends extra weapons, and shields Israel from worldwide accountability.”
‘Irrelevant’ Israeli probe
An preliminary Israeli army report after the killing of Eygi mentioned she was possible killed by “oblique and unintended” fireplace. However witnesses have said she was focused within the head by a sniper.
There have been stories {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.
However Bennett mentioned the household just isn’t anticipating any measure of accountability to return 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 mentioned.
For Ali, justice for Eygi might seem elusive, but when her reminiscence might help within the liberation of the Palestinian individuals, he mentioned that will 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 would come,” mentioned Ali.
