Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib claims that Biden’s failure to act reveals his deception over his response to any harm that Israel might cause to Americans.
In honor of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American activist who was slain by Israeli soldiers on September 6 during a nonviolent demonstration in the occupied West Bank, a vigil has been organized outside the White House this evening.
Along with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and dozens of people calling for justice for her death, Eygi’s family, including her father Mehmet Suat Eygi, sister Ozden Bennett, and husband Hamid Ali, joined the demonstration in Lafayette Square on Monday.
Speaking at the event, Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress and the representative for Michigan’s 12th District, blasted President Joe Biden for not ordering an independent investigation into Eygi’s death, preferring to rely on an ongoing Israeli investigation that has not produced answers more than three months after her murder.
President Biden recently stated, ‘If you damage an American, we will retaliate.'” I am aware of this. However, his inaction has once again demonstrated that the Israeli government’s claims of killing Americans are wholly false, Tlaib stated.
She also took issue with Biden’s previous description of Eygi’s passing as a “tragic error.” “We all know that Aysenur’s murder was not a ‘tragic error,'” she stated.
“It was devastating for her family to hear them say that, and we know that, and she knew that what the Israeli military did to her, they do to the Palestinians every single day,” she stated. Tlaib demanded an independent investigation and demanded responsibility.
“Died defending others.”
While officials have labeled Eygi’s death “unprovoked” and “unjustified,” they have failed to hold Israel accountable, according to Hamid Ali, Eygi’s husband, who expressed displeasure with the Biden administration.
“Where is the justice, and what exactly is taking so long?” Ali stated. “If the US had held Israel accountable for the killings of other Americans like Rachel Corrie or Shireen Abu Akleh, perhaps Israeli soldiers wouldn’t feel so emboldened to kill Americans and other civilians today.”
As a “global citizen,” Eygi is “an example of the best of what it means to be an American and human,” according to her sister, Ozden Bennett.
Like many others before her, Aysenur lost her life defending others. “Justice for Aysenur would bring justice for other victims of Israeli military senseless violence one step closer,” she said.
Eygi was slain by Israeli soldiers during a nonviolent demonstration against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank near Nablus.
She was “highly likely” struck “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli fire that was aimed at a “main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks” during the rally, according to an initial Israeli investigation.
However, witness reports and video footage have refuted Israel’s version of events, with several claiming she was struck directly by an Israeli sniper.
Eygi was shot more than 30 minutes after the height of the clashes in Beita and roughly 20 minutes after demonstrators had retreated more than 200 yards down the main road, away from Israeli troops, according to a Washington Post story.
