Ayşenur Was My Friend. Nothing Can Justify Her Murder by an Israeli Soldier

The 26-year-old American is remembered as a free-spirit who served others and was loved by anyone she met. She deserves justice.

Ayşenur earlier this year. Photos courtesy of Ayşenur's best friend.

“Ameer, I need help. Aysenur was martyred in Palestine.” This was the first text message I woke up to on Friday, accompanied by missed calls from Ayşenur’s best friend, Suzi*. I open Instagram to see my feed flooded with graphic videos of a lifeless Ayşenur surrounded by medics and Palestinian locals in a dark empty hospital room. 

This can’t be real. 

I quickly go to Ayşenur’s profile. She just posted hours ago to her story for close friends. “Jummah Mubarak,” it reads alongside a photo of Friday prayers in the Palestinian village of Qusra. She was alive just hours ago. 

This can’t be real.

Ayşenur posted to her Instagram story just hours before she was killed.

I call Suzi to get all the information and immediately open my laptop to start writing the news story to publish for @Muslim. Nothing prepares a journalist to cover the murder of a friend.

‘Deliberately Targeted’

My friend, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier just moments after Jummah prayer in the Palestinian village of Beita in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Sept. 6. She was 26 years old. Those who witnessed the shooting said she was deliberately targeted. 

Ayşenur, an American, was in Beita as part of a group of volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement to provide a protective presence to Palestinian villagers who have for years been violently targeted and harassed by the Israeli military. 

After prayer, escalations began by the Israeli military – as it always did on Fridays when the soldiers showed up. There wasn’t a pre-planned demonstration, as Western media has reported. After the Israeli military started to harass and intimidate the Palestinians, the villagers began to push back by yelling at the soldiers. The soldiers then fired tear gas. 

According to those who were there, Ayşenur and other volunteers had gone down the hill where the escalation started. As things got worse, they moved into an olive grove to create some distance. What they didn’t know was that Israeli soldiers, positioned atop the hill, had a clear vision of them. 

As Ayşenur went down the hill, she helped a 62-year-old volunteer who had difficulties walking. She was nervous for her. They hid behind an olive tree, believing they were in a secluded area. They believed they were safe. 

That's when the first live round was shot. Volunteers across the field heard the sound of the gun piercing the wind into something metal, making a “clunk” noise. A Palestinian man was injured.

Then, there was a second shot, and Ayşenur dropped.

At first, the volunteers thought she was ducking for protection, but then they noticed a trail of blood. They yelled for a medic. Everyone ran to her; she had a weak pulse. They tried to stop the bleeding. When the medic arrived, they tried to resuscitate her, but she was already gone. 

“These shots are precise and aimed. It was a perfectly accurate lethal shot.”

-A volunteer who was nearby when Ayşenur was killed

Eyewitnesses and Palestinian locals in Beita say Ayşenur was targeted and executed. The Nablus governor told reporters that an autopsy “confirmed that Eygi was killed by an Israeli occupation sniper’s bullet to her head.”

“You don’t shoot a person in the head by mistake; these shots are precise and aimed. It was a perfectly accurate lethal shot,” a volunteer at the scene who wishes to remain anonymous said.  

She wasn’t pelting rocks at Israeli soldiers, as Israeli media claims. She and those around her did not pose a “threat,” as the Israeli military claims. In fact, she was not involved in the escalations at all. 

Her only 'crime' was being a target of a trigger-happy US-funded Israeli sniper.

A Free Spirit with Magnetic Energy

Ayşenur is a big loss to everyone who knew her or simply crossed paths with her. She had a magnetic energy that drew people to her. She was silly, fun, gentle, and supportive.

Ayşenur was a free spirit who was loved deeply by all who met her. Photo courtesy of Ayşenur’s family.

Ayşenur isn’t another number to add to Israel’s growing murder count. She was a free spirit. She was loved dearly. A star student who graduated just three months ago from the University of Washington, where she studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures. She worked with children with autism and was of service to anyone in need – even in her final moments when she was caring for the 62-year-old volunteer in getting her to safety.

Ayşenur was a devoted Muslim who attended Friday prayer just hours before her murder.

In her free time, she loved to cook and experiment with recipes. She had a connection to food and loved to add a little crunch in her meals because ”that was a point in consideration” for her food reviews, says her best friend Suzi. Ayşenur would give herself a theme, and then invite her friends over to set a timer for an hour and pretend as if she was on the show ‘Iron Chef.’ Her friends have fond memories of how fun and silly she was in running around the kitchen to make a meal and create an experience for everyone there. “You get lost in time with her; that was the person she was,” Suzi tells me.

Ayşenur loved to cook and experiment with recipes. Photo courtesy of Ayşenur’s family.

When Suzi was dealing with loss and grief or was sick, Ayşenur would make the most delicious meals while checking in on her. It would be the most thoughtful recipe. She was pure-hearted to the core, and she always cared for people. 

She felt a deep responsibility to help and serve others, her friends say, and that’s how she ended up in Palestine. 

Ayşenur was active in organizing the pro-Palestine encampment on her campus at the University of Washington. She raised thousands of dollars by curating a group of artists for a fundraiser. Hearing the horrific unjust stories of Palestinians compelled her to travel to the West Bank after she graduated to stand in solidarity with civilians who continue to endure ongoing repression and violence. 

A loving daughter, sister, partner, aunt, and friend. Ayşenur loved her nieces so much that she wouldn’t stop talking about them to others. “She loved her family and spoke so kindly of them,” says Zee, a volunteer in Jerusalem who befriended Ayşenur. “She talked to her dad every day, who was so worried about her. He was reading the news from the West Bank daily.”  

Zee had met Ayşenur while volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement in Jerusalem. When Ayşenur, a natural connector, found out that Zee was of Kashmiri background, she was really excited to introduce her to a friend in Seattle who had the same upbringing.  

Ayşenur was a ray of sunshine in everyone’s life, especially her husband’s. The couple were soulmates. Her husband last spoke to Ayşenur right before she attended Friday prayer and told her to message him after as it was very late for him (they were in different time zones). When he didn't receive a text after a while, he began to feel something was off. That's when he got a phone call.

He learned Ayşenur was killed – and not too much later, so did the world. 

Ayşenur’s husband, family, and friends are having trouble understanding how to navigate grief while seeking accountability. In a public statement, Ayşenur’s family welcomed the White House’s condolences but demanded action. “An Israeli investigation is not adequate,” the statement read. “We call on President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing, and to ensure full accountability.”

The family says they’re waiting to hear back on their request for an independent investigation but have not received any acknowledgment.

I’m very proud of Ayşenur. 

She was a hero and died how she would have dreamed of – under an olive tree, standing up for justice. If she were to know this would come, she would be critical of how Western media portrayed her. Perhaps she would even call out the double standards on how she only made headlines because she was American.

I’m fulfilling my duty as her friend by ensuring her story is told, her final moments are remembered, and her legacy is documented. That’s the least she deserves. The world, though, owes her so much more.

*Zeteo has changed the name at the request of the individual.