OLYMPIA — State legislators this week joined calls for an investigation by the U.S. government into the killing of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old Turkish American activist from West Seattle who was killed while protesting Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Israel acknowledged this week it was "highly likely" their forces in the West Bank killed Eygi, a University of Washington alumna, on Sept. 6.
As of Friday, 13 state senators, 25 House members, and state Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, all Democrats, signed a letter requesting a U.S. inquiry into her death. About 30 local officials had also signed it.
"The government of Israel must deliver answers immediately and hold the perpetrators of this killing accountable," they wrote.
The signers requested the U.S. government lead an independent investigation "due to potential politicization of Ayşenur's killing," writing a report should be provided to Eygi's family including all evidence and explanation for how any findings are determined.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal sent a letter to President Joe Biden's administration Wednesday, calling for "an immediate, transparent, credible, and thorough independent U.S. investigation." In a separate letter Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell also called for an investigation.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called Eygi's killing "unprovoked and unjustified."
Eygi had traveled to the Middle East to protest Israeli violence and settlement expansion. Fellow protesters said she was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier during a moment of calm after clashes earlier in the day.
A video-based investigation published Wednesday by The Washington Post suggested Eygi was shot in the head "more than a half-hour after the height of confrontations in Beita, and some 20 minutes after protesters had moved down the main road," over 200 yards from Israeli forces.
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