09.18.25

Cantwell & Colleagues Send Letter to State Department Demanding Answers on Violent Attacks Against Americans in the West Bank and Lebanon

WASHINGTON D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined 11 of her Congressional colleagues in sending a bicameral letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding answers from the U.S. State Department about two violent attacks on American citizens in the West Bank.

The Trump Administration has repeatedly failed to answer lawmakers’ questions regarding the fatal shooting of American-Turkish citizen and University of Washington student Aysenur Ezgi Eygi by an Israeli solider in the West Bank in September 2024, and an 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.

“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,” the lawmakers wrote.

“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 letter was led by U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and additionally cosigned by U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) 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).

The full text of the letter is available HERE.