Senator Welch meets with families of five American civilians killed and injured in the West Bank
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) led a group of bicameral lawmakers in demanding answers from the U.S. Department of State about two violent attacks on American citizens. Senator Welch also met with families of five civilians killed and injured in the West Bank, including relatives of American-Turkish citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, Palestinian-American teenagers Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammed Ibrahim, and American citizen Rachel Corrie.
This comes after the Trump Administration has repeatedly failed to answer lawmakers’ questions regarding the fatal shooting of American-Turkish citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi by an Israeli solider in the West Bank in September 2024, and a targeted attack on international journalists in southern Lebanon by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in October 2023 which wounded Vermont’s Dylan Collins, a video journalist reporting for the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
The lawmakers wrote: “We are not aware that DOJ is investigating either of these shootings of American citizens. We continue to believe that DOJ should conduct a thorough investigation of these terrible incidents and that those responsible should be held accountable. In the meantime, the Israel Defense Forces ‘investigated’ itself. They did not interview any of the victims or witnesses and, as far as we are aware, closed their investigations without taking any action.”
“We agree that the Department of State’s highest priority is the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. The Department does not meet that duty when it accepts a foreign military’s perfunctory ‘investigation’ of a targeted attack against an American by its armed personnel,” continued the lawmakers. “Answering our questions about the killing of Ms. Eygi does not require the Department of State to conduct its own investigation. The information requested is either currently known to the Department or not known to the Department and obtainable from the relevant Israeli authorities. We therefore again request answers to each of our questions at the earliest possible time.”
The lawmakers concluded: “We have enclosed questions about the October 13 attack, the answers to which are presumably known to the relevant Israeli authorities. We would appreciate your responses to each of these questions at the earliest possible time.”
View photos from Senator Welch’s meetings with the families of American citizens killed by IDF forces:
In January, Senator Welch led a group of his bicameral colleagues in requesting answers from then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the fatal shooting of Ms. Eygi. Senator Welch also led a letter to President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Attorney General Pam Bondi in June calling for an independent investigation of the October 2023 tank and machine gun attack in southern Lebanon, which killed one and wounded six others, including Mr. Collins. In response to the lawmakers’ letters about Ms. Eygi and the October 2023 attack in southern Lebanon, Bureau of Legislative Affairs Senior Official Paul Guaglianone failed to answer any of the lawmakers’ questions and referred them to the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding attacks against U.S. citizens abroad.
The letter was signed by Senator Welch and Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and U.S. Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), Jim McGovern (D-MA-02), Becca Balint (VT-At-Large), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), and Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51).
Read and download the lawmakers’ full letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Vermont Congressional Delegation met with Dylan Collins on Capitol Hill in July and recommitted to seek accountability for the IDF’s shocking misuse of lethal force against civilians, including by restricting taxpayer-funded weapons for Israel.
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