‘Blood on Biden’s hands’: family of US citizen killed by IDF demand justice

The shooting of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi is still recent enough that her family slip into the present tense when they talk about her.

Her husband Hamid Ali smiles as he describes their third wedding anniversary just a few months ago, when the young couple took a boat trip in Seattle and ate Vietnamese food. Eygi’s sister Özden Bennett speaks about her younger sibling with tears in her eyes.

“It feels like she’s just going to hop on a plane any day now, and come back and tell us all about her travels and what she learned,” she told the Guardian.

That pain has only been made worse by fears that there will be impunity for those responsible for Egyi’s death.

“I think the trickiest part for me has been trying to grieve the death of my sister while also trying to push for justice. This is something the US government, the Biden administration, should naturally be doing.”

She added: “I wouldn’t wish this on any family.”

The American-Turkish dual national was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper on 6 September while attending a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank village of Beita. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it was “ highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her”, but her family have called for an independent investigation to her killing – and for the US government to support them in this effort.

But as the family await a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, they have despaired at the reaction from the White House.

Biden initially told reporters that “apparently it was an accident… [the bullet] ricocheted off the ground and [she] just got hit by accident”. He later called for accountability, describing the shooting as “unacceptable”.

But the family fears that without a criminal investigation led by the FBI, the soldier that pulled the trigger could remain anonymous, their commanding officer will face no public scrutiny, and there will be little justice meted out to America’s closest ally.

The 26-year-old went to the West Bank, Ali said, because “justice in all aspects of life was fundamental to who she was and what she did”. Bennett described her sister as someone who was always moved to act when she saw suffering, and that she felt compelled to travel to the West Bank to continue the activism that been a cornerstone of her young life,.

When Ali last spoke to his wife, it was night in Seattle, but it was morning in Nablus where she was preparing for her first protest since joining the International Solidarity Movement, a group founded to observe demonstrations in the West Bank.

Eygi had researched the site, he said, and understood the specific risks associated with protests in the town of Beita. “She was very clear: I’m going to stay towards the back. This is my first demonstration,” he recalled.

A month after Eygi’s death, Biden is yet to call the family to offer his condolences. “President Biden has been portrayed as this deeply empathetic president, and even in the context of the election, in contrast to other candidates,” said Ali. “I think a five-minute phone call is the bare minimum, and that’s pretty easy to do.”

While the family have spoken to the state department and are due to meet with Blinken, Bennett said, officials have suggested that Biden will call afterwards.

“If president Biden wanted to pick up the phone and call us, he definitely could,” she said. “[But] given the remarks he made prior to his official statement, his not calling does make it seem like speaking to our family is not a priority for him.”

Ali said he felt that Biden’s apparent reluctance sends a message: that “he values American lives differently when it comes to crimes committed by the Israeli military.”

The White House is also yet to provide any public response to demand from a growing coalition of US lawmakers over Eygi’s killing. More than 100 members of Congress wrote to the administration last month, demanding the US conduct an independent investigation, as well as details on what Washington might do should the Israeli government refuse to cooperate.

Vice-president and presidential candidate Kamala Harris said after Eygi’s killing that “there must be full accountability”, but said the administration would press Israel for answers.

Related: ‘So many similarities’: Rachel Corrie’s parents call for inquiry into death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi

“The fact that the US government, including the vice-president, are okay with Israel conducting their own investigation of the killing of an American citizen is mind-boggling,” said Ali.

Bennett pointed to the shooting of veteran Al Jazeera journalist and US citizen Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in Jenin, and what she called a lack of action taken by the Biden administration in response. An FBI investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing will be two years old next month, amid calls for transparency about its progress or findings.

“If there had been real accountability taken for Shireen’s killing, it’s possible, maybe even likely that Ayşenur wouldn’t have died in the manner that she did,” said Bennett. “Likewise if there’s action taken, real accountability and real justice sought out for what happened to my sister, maybe we can save another family from experiencing what we’re going through today.”

If the Biden administration fails this latest test, she added, another killing like Eygi’s “is inevitable”.

“I feel like the blood is really on the hands of the Biden administration or whoever comes next if we don’t uphold our own laws when US citizens are killed abroad,” she said.