Israel's deadly shooting of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi demands U.S. investigation

Juliette Majid called Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi "Baklava" after the distinct cinnamon-laced phyllo dessert Eygi made from scratch and fed friends, exuding her sweet "big sister" energy.

Others in the Seattle woman's close circle, including Kelsie Nabass, referred to her by her middle name Ezgi — "melody" in Turkish — befitting Eygi's harmonious nature and flair for bringing people together.

Seemi Ghazi only knew her as Ayşenur after they were introduced at a wedding Ghazi officiated in Washington State last year. It didn't take to long for Ghazi, a family friend of mine, to be drawn in to Eygi's quiet charm and compassion as they and Eygi's partner, Hamid Ali, chatted that evening.

"She had so much elegance, subtlety and warmth, it was palpable," Ghazi, told me of the 26-year-old Eygi, who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers over a week ago in the occupied West Bank, where she had been protesting settlements with Palestinians and other activists.

That marriage celebration is now a bittersweet memory for Ghazi, and the sunny messages the three newfound friends shared have been replaced with somber texts from a grieving Ali now in Turkey for Eygi's burial this weekend.

Ali and Eygi's other loved ones have yet to hear from President Joe Biden, who recently consoled slain Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents over the phone and publicly released a video of the call he made to Natalie and Judith Raanan, of Evanston, after Hamas set the mother and daughter free two weeks after its deadly Oct. 7 attack.

Biden can't be expected to ring and hug every American involved in a foreign conflict or relative of a citizen killed overseas. But many of Eygi's friends and family feel slighted, and believe Biden is purposely avoiding reaching out since Israel, a U.S. ally, carried out the fatal shooting well after a confrontation between demonstrations and the military took place and not during a "violent riot" as the Israel Defense Forces contend, according to witnesses and video recordings.

Failing to contact the Muslim family, as Israel continues to pummel Gaza with bombs, signals to fellow Americans that Eygi wasn't one of them, even though she had lived in the U.S. since she was an infant, Nabass said.

"We notice which type of Americans' deaths are getting attention and condolences (from elected leaders) and which Americans are being 'othered,' " said Nabass, 31. "We should be able to protest the suffering of a people (Palestinians) without the fear of being murdered."

On the same day Secretary of State Antony Blinken rebuked Israel for its actions last week, Biden described the Sept. 6 incident as an "accident" — not straying too far from Israel's characterization of Eygi being "likely" struck by IDF fire "indirectly and unintentionally."

Eygi's family isn't buying it, and neither are many other Americans.

"She was fatally shot in the head by a bullet that came from an Israeli sniper positioned 200 meters away," Ali said in a statement. "This was no accident..."

Biden has since expressed that he's “outraged and deeply saddened” by Eygi's death and called for "full accountability" as Israel launches its criminal investigation.

What Ali, his in-laws and many others want more than a phone call is for the U.S. to open its own independent investigation as Turkey, where Eygi also had citizenship, has.

Should Israel's findings be accepted, they fear no one will be punished. It has happened before. Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s 2022 shooting death comes to mind. So does the killing of Rachel Corrie, another Washington State woman and International Solidarity Movement member who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer as she protested the demolition of Palestinian houses in the Gaza Strip over two decades ago.

"Israel does not do investigations; they do cover-ups," Corrie's father Craig Corrie told the independent news program Democracy Now! Monday.

Eygi's friends are now wondering if she'll also be part of another whitewash. "She deserves justice," Majid, 26, said. "Her family deserves justice."

Eygi wasn't just as activist who was on the front lines for Black Lives Matter and Gaza and other movements at the University of Washington, Nabass and Majid said.

She was a proud, hardcore Seattle "girlie" who loved the outdoors, horror movies and her espresso machine.

Right before she boarded the plane for a short visit to Turkey before heading to the West Bank, she told Nabass that she just received her motorcycle permit.

Had she come back, Eygi would be riding with the wind in her hair, trying to convince her friends to hop on to take in the glacier-capped mountain and back shores of the Pacific Ocean.

Rummana Hussain is a columnist and member of the Sun-Times Editorial Board.

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