Rachel Corrie's Parents Mourn Death of Ayşenur Eygi, Warn of Israeli Military Cover-Up
Rachel Corrie's Parents Mourn Death of Ayşenur Eygi, Warn of Israeli Military Cover-Up
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00:00I want to turn right now to a family that knows the pain of a daughter's death.
00:05Aishanar Aigy had been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement, or ISM,
00:10to try to protect Palestinians from attacks by the Israeli military and settlers.
00:15That's the same group that Rachel Corey, also a U.S. citizen—she was a student at
00:21Evergreen College in Washington, in Olympia—she was volunteering with ISM in 2003.
00:30When she was crushed to death—it was actually three days before the U.S. invaded Iraq, it
00:35was March 16th, 2003—she was crushed to death in Gaza by an Israeli military bulldozer.
00:42She was trying to protect the home of a Palestinian pharmacist's family in Rafah that was about
00:48to be demolished.
00:49She was 23.
00:50We're joined right now by Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corey.
00:55After Rachel was killed, they devoted their lives to our cause, founded the nonprofit
01:01Rachel Corey Foundation for Peace and Justice.
01:05Cindy is the foundation's president.
01:06Craig the treasurer.
01:07They've also gone on interfaith peace missions to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
01:13Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Cindy and Craig.
01:15I remember seeing you at Evergreen College.
01:18It was the largest graduation Evergreen ever had, in Olympia, that year, 2003, but it was
01:25missing one student who was supposed to have graduated, your daughter Cindy, who was killed
01:29in Rafah.
01:32When you heard this news of Aishanour on Friday, I was wondering your response and if you can
01:38talk about what you see as the parallels.
01:46Thank you, Amy.
01:48Thank you to all of your guests who have shared this very tragic story.
01:57We learned, we started to get word about what had happened to Aishanour on Friday morning,
02:02and it was, of course, very disturbing and emotional for us.
02:11I think for me, it thrusts us back to that moment on March 16th, 2003, about noon, when
02:21we were in Charlotte, North Carolina, and got the word about Rachel.
02:27I remember just the horror and the pain of that news.
02:35For me, on Friday morning, I remember wondering, would I ever feel whole again?
02:44Would I ever be the same person again?
02:48Could I ever enjoy life?
02:53It's a parent's nightmare.
02:55Friday morning, knowing that there was another family so nearby, in Seattle, who was getting
03:03that same kind of news, was just very, very disturbing.
03:12And we continue to just feel deeply about what that family is experiencing right now.
03:23Meg, if you can tell us—I mean, we actually just recently spoke to the two of you.
03:28You also called for an investigation.
03:32What ultimately came of the death of Rachel Corey, killed by an Israeli military bulldozer,
03:38which was a Caterpillar bulldozer?
03:41Well, of course, we did call for a U.S. investigation into Rachel's killing.
03:47Let me say that what we're hearing today, it's upsetting to our family, to hear our
03:55State Department again.
03:57And I would expect them to say that they are trying to find out the facts and looking to
04:01Israel for that.
04:03Israel does not do investigations.
04:05They do cover-ups.
04:06So let's face it, nothing's going to come out of there that's going to help these citizens
04:10or whoever may be killed in the future.
04:13That's what we're trying to stop.
04:15Our family worked for an investigation into Rachel's killing, and we wanted some consequences
04:19out of that.
04:20And we hoped, even though we didn't know the names of the people that would be killed in
04:24the future, we hoped that that would stop, and it would not happen.
04:28I think at this point, yes, U.S. has to do an investigation, but there needs to be consequences.
04:33As Jonathan pointed out, these are American weapons that are being used.
04:38That's against U.S. law, and it should be stopped.
04:42I know from working with members of Congress and their staff, working with the State Department,
04:48that under the Leahy law, usually they're asking for proof that it was a U.S. weapon.
04:54If I write a check, I don't need proof about what's going wrong.
04:59I need people to cooperate and determine that it's not our money that's being used that way.
05:05Israel does not do that, to my knowledge.
05:08So we also need to look for international help here.
05:11I think that the U.N., the International Criminal Court, they're places that need to get involved.
05:18But we're just sick and tired of hearing platitudes from the State Department, and these are people
05:23we've met. We had met with Anthony Blinken before he became Secretary of State.
05:30He's a decent person, but there needs to be consequences and there needs to be consequences
05:34that are enforced by the entire U.S.
05:37government and the international community.
05:41We heard those words that we hear so often when something like this happens, that the U.S.
05:48had asked for a thorough, credible, transparent investigation.
05:55We did pursue help from the State Department, from our government, and we kept pursuing
06:05that help for many years.
06:07And, you know, we were still getting statements in 2000, I believe it was 2008, from the State
06:16Department. Michelle Bernier-Toth wrote to us about how many people in the administration
06:22at that time had spoken to their counterparts in Israel about a thorough, credible and
06:28transparent investigation for Rachel's case.
06:32And these were people like Secretary of State Colin Powell talking to his counterpart, a
06:38long list of names that you would recognize.
06:41And at the close, she said, those requests go unanswered or ignored.
06:51And when you think about what we're doing, what we're supplying to the Israeli military,
06:58to the Israeli government, the kind of backing that's being given to them, it's really, it
07:04was just really shocking that there would be this verbal request for accountability
07:13or at least for investigation on the part of Israel.
07:16But the U.S.
07:18acknowledged that that hadn't happened.
07:21And in fact, now Secretary of State Tony Blinken, in 2010, confirmed for us that the
07:32position of the U.S.
07:33government in Rachel's case remains that there has not been a thorough, credible and
07:37transparent investigation in her case.
07:40Also, the U.S., we fought for investigation for years, U.S.
07:46investigation. There's a very, we were told there's very limited statute that allows for
07:52that to happen in the U.S.
07:54The Justice Department and FBI apparently ultimately looked for that possibility.
08:03But we were told that policy impacts whether they take that on and that even if there
08:10were investigation, prosecution of someone would be extremely unlikely through the U.S.
08:17So it's one of the reasons that we are saying there needs to be an international element
08:23here, an international commitment to ensuring that an unbiased investigation happens, that
08:36an impartial investigation happens.
08:39We ultimately went to the Israeli courts, which we learned are also implicated in
08:47furthering Israeli policy and occupation.
08:49And we heard the lead investigator who completed the military investigation.
08:55And it's important for people to understand Israel's investigations are military
08:59investigations. It became clear that that was conducted in order to exonerate the
09:07Israeli military, not to find truth in what really happened.
09:12And that's what our family was pursuing.
09:15But the lead investigator stated under oath in Haifa court that he believed that they
09:22were at war with everyone, including the peace activists from the International
09:28Solidarity Movement.
09:30I think that's really important information for people to understand now as we move
09:36forward in this tragic case.
09:39I want to end with the words of Congressmember Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who's
09:44head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the largest caucus in Congress, on the
09:50killing of the Turkish-American activist Ayshanur Ezgi Aygi.
09:54She said, I'm very troubled by the reports.
09:56She was killed by Israeli Defense Forces soldiers.
09:58The Netanyahu government has done nothing to stop settlement expansion and settler
10:02violence in the West Bank, often encouraged by right-wing ministers of the Netanyahu
10:06government. The killing of an American citizen is a terrible proof point in this
10:11senseless war of rising tensions in the region, she said.
10:15I want to thank you all for being with us.
10:18Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corey, speaking to us more than two decades after
10:24Rachel was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer in Gaza near Rafa.
10:29I want to thank Amara Sison, Filipino-American, shot and led by Israeli forces a month
10:34ago today in Beita, where Ayshanur was also killed.
10:38Juliet Majid, Ph.D.
10:40student, North Carolina State University, speaking to us from Raleigh.
10:46Dear friend of Ayshanur Ezgi at the University of Washington, where they both graduated.