Family Statement in Response to President Biden’s Official White House Statement

President Biden has said, “if you harm an American, we will respond.” On September 9th, the State Department claimed, “when it comes to the protection of our citizens and our personnel and if they are targeted, we of course will take appropriate action”.

In the midst of this terrible tragedy, our family has been crossing continents to gather and put our beloved Ayșenur to rest. We will always remember Aysenur as the kindhearted, silly, and passionate soul whose face expressed all those qualities. We cannot speak of what happened to those expressions when her temple met a bullet fired by a trained Israeli soldier.

Aysenur was an international observer who stood in witness of “violent extremist Israeli settlers (who) are uprooting Palestinians from their homes” - words President Biden himself used today. Despite this, President Biden is still calling her killing an accident based only on the Israeli military’s story. This is not only insensitive and false, it is complicity in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American.

Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack. The appropriate action is for President Biden and Vice President Harris to speak with the family directly, and order an independent, transparent investigation into the killing of Aysenur, a volunteer for peace.