WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement on the death of 26-year-old Ayşenur Eygi and called for the U.S. Justice Department to open independent investigations into Eygi’s death and the wider pattern of attacks on American citizens by Israeli security forces:

Ayşenur Eygi was 26 years old. An American citizen, she had recently graduated from the University of Washington. She was shot in the head by Israeli security forces while peacefully protesting an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank on September 6th.

President Biden and Vice President Harris had the same message following her death: “There must be full accountability.”

Let’s be clear: there will be no accountability if the United States defers to the extremist Israeli government to investigate its own actions.

There was no accountability when 17-year-old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, an American citizen from Louisiana, was shot and killed in January. He was a senior in high school.

There was no accountability when another 17-year-old American, Mohammad Khdour from Florida, was shot and killed in February.

There was no accountability when Dylan Collins, an American journalist for Agence France-Presse, was targeted by Israeli tank fire in October. Six journalists were wounded in the attack, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah. The group was clearly marked as press.

There was no accountability when American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head by the Israeli military in May 2022. She was also clearly marked as press.

And there was no accountability when another American, 78-year-old Omar Assad, died after being bound and gagged by Israeli security forces.

None of these Americans were armed. None of them posed a threat.

And, of course, there has been no accountability for the nearly 700 Palestinians, including 150 children, killed in the West Bank over the last 11 months by Israeli security forces and settlers. There has been no accountability for repeated Israeli settler attacks, enabled by security forces, on Palestinian towns and villages. No meaningful response to the burning of Palestinian homes and businesses.

This is a clear pattern. These are not mistakes. This is policy: shoot first, ask no questions later.

The lack of credible investigations into these incidents, let alone consequences, speaks for itself. The Israeli government’s explanations are routinely disproved by investigative journalists.

By continuing to credulously accept the explanations of an extremist Israeli government whose stated goal is to annex the West Bank and push Palestinians off their land, the United States makes a mockery of its values and abdicates its responsibility to investigate and respond to attacks on its citizens.

The U.S. Justice Department must open its own, independent investigations into these attacks on American citizens by the Israeli security forces. The FBI should immediately collect testimony and forensic evidence. And President Biden must act to bring real pressure to bear to change Israeli policy.

The United States cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of the extremist Israeli government. We cannot allow American citizens and innocent Palestinians to be killed with impunity. We must act.