Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal met together on Capitol Hill with victims’ families to demand justice from the Israeli government.
Families of US Citizens Killed in Israel Say
Trump Administration Refuses to Investigate
Syma Mohammed / Middle East Eye
(September 16, 2025) — The Trump administration has failed to make any “forward movement” on the investigations into the killing of several US citizens in Israel, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said on Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
“My colleague and I pushed over and over again for accountability with absolutely no forward movement, no transparency, no insistence that the US protect, at the very minimum, its own citizens against Israeli government forces that have now killed eight US citizens and countless others with impunity,” Jayapal said.
Jayapal was speaking at a press conference alongside the families of Rachel Corrie, Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, Aysenur Ezgi Aygi and Mohammed Ibrahim, all US citizens who were killed either by Israeli forces or settlers.
Eight US citizens have been killed, primarily in the last three years, and it is the first time that the families have joined forces to demand a US-led investigation and accountability into their deaths.
Jayapal is the elected representative for Aygi’s family in Washington state and, along with some of her peers, has repeatedly pressured both the Biden administration and now the administration of President Donald Trump to investigate Aygi’s killing in September 2024, along with other slain US citizens.
The US government has so far failed to investigate the deaths of those killed, and there have been no prosecutions of the Israelis behind the killings or justice for the families left behind.
Jayapal said she had recently spoken to the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, and he promised to demand answers and accountability, but has failed to do this so far.
“The American people and these families deserve answers, and the US government has to use our leverage to ensure that the Israeli government cannot kill our citizens and cannot continue to commit genocide of Palestinians,” Jayapal added, referring to the genocide in Gaza that has killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians so far.
Jayapal said the US had leverage as the most prominent backer of military aid to Israel and needed to demand that Israel’s government “comply with international law”.
Representatives Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Rashida Tlaib, Mark Pocan, Summer Lee, Lateefah Simon and Delia Ramirez were also at the press conference and have been pushing for accountability.
Justice Delayed
Aygi’s sister, Ozden Bennett, spoke about attending the event to both mourn the loss of her sister and demand accountability from the US government, which she said continued to shield Israel from consequences.
“It’s been one year since my sister was killed by the Israeli military,” she said.
“One year since the bullet – likely funded by the United States – struck her head and changed our lives forever…It’s also been one full year of complete inaction by the US government.”
She spoke about the hopes she and her family had that the government would investigate the killing of her sister, who was shot by an Israeli soldier for peacefully protesting in the occupied West Bank in September 2024, and that her death might be the “last in an ongoing pattern of Israeli impunity”.
Bennet said the US government had been “unwilling” to help even though the Department of Justice had investigated and filed criminal charges over the deaths of US citizens killed in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
“Why are some American lives worth fighting for while others are not? Why is it that the US government is swift to act as long as the perpetrator isn’t Israel?” she questioned.
Cindy Corrie spoke about her and her husband’s 22-year pursuit of justice in US and Israeli courts for their daughter Rachel, who was mowed down by two Israeli soldiers in a US-made Caterpillar bulldozer.
Cindy said the family had been told by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell that the State Department “did not find the Israeli military police report to reflect an investigation that was thorough credible and transparent”.
In spite of that, she said they had been told by US officials the US would not conduct an investigation of its own, nor could they force Israel to conduct one to meet their standards.
Cindy shared that her husband frequently said the US sends contradictory messages to Israel: one being a diplomatic request for investigations, the other being the delivery of billions of dollars in uninterrupted military aid.
Cindy admitted that her life’s mission was inspired by a note her daughter wrote to her about what was happening to Palestinians in Gaza in 2003.
“She (Rachel) said: ‘Disbelief and horror is what I feel. Disappointment. I am disappointed that this is the base reality of our world, and that we, in fact, participate in it’.
“She said: ‘This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop’.”
Kamel Musallet, whose 20-year-old son Sayfollah was killed in July this year by Israeli settlers on their family’s land in the occupied West Bank, shared how his son believed that being American would shield the family from harm.
“Instead of providing my son with guidance on his next steps in life, I am here today demanding justice and accountability for his brutal murder by Israeli settlers,” Kamel lamented.
“Saif was murdered on his land, our families’ land in the West Bank. Until today, Israeli settlers continue to attack our families’ land. All with the full backing of the Israeli army, all with the full backing of the Israeli military. We are demanding that the US government act and protect all Americans, including Palestinians and Americans murdered by Israeli violence. No father should have to bury his child in this way.”
‘Refuse to Prosecute’
Tawfic Abdel Jabbar’s father, Hafeth, spoke about losing his 17-year-old Palestinian-American son, who was shot and killed by the Israeli military in January 2024. He spoke about the stress of trying to get past armed Israeli soldiers to reach his son, and the pain of seeing his son’s body mashed up in his car after he had been shot and his car had flipped over three or four times.
Hafeth said he feels helpless when his nine-year-old daughter continues to ask about her brother.
“They know who the killer is, but they refuse to prosecute,” Hafeth said. “All these things that we were taught as kids about liberty and humanity does not apply to the Israeli government. They have the right, and they have the okay from our government, to do such things without being punished at all.”
In addition to the families of US citizens who have been killed, the uncle of 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim, who has been detained in an Israeli military prison for seven months, also spoke on behalf of Mohammed’s father, who is afraid to leave the occupied West Bank in case the Israelis prevent him from returning.
“I don’t want to be here today,” Zeyad Kadur said. “Everybody behind me doesn’t want to be here. We’re lucky enough to say Mohammed is still here. We have a small chance of him not joining the club behind me.”
“He’s sick. He’s lost weight. And a simple phone call can get him out. The same phone call that sends billions of dollars there can get a child back to his parents. It shouldn’t matter if he’s American or not. But in these situations, it does. We can’t bring back everybody else, but we still have a chance to bring Mohammed back.”
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