Israeli Settlers Attack CNN Journalists Investigating Killing of Musallet

Israeli settlers attacked and chased away CNN journalists in the occupied West Bank who were reporting on the Israeli killing of 20-year-old Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet and speaking to his family, the journalists have reported.

In a video report, the journalists said that they were driving to the site where settlers killed Musallet on Friday when masked Israeli settlers began following them.

“At an intersection, the settlers get out and try to pelt our vehicle. We manage to approach a nearby Israeli border police vehicle, and the settlers turn around. But minutes after the border police headed out to search for the settlers, we were ambushed,” said CNN’s Jeremy Diamond.

“The masked men smashed the rear windshield of our car, but we managed to speed off unharmed. It is just a small window into the reality here,” Diamond went on.

Israeli settlers beat Musallet to death and shot another Palestinian, 23-year-old Mohammad al-Shalabi, in the town of Sinjil, where their families own land, on Friday. Witnesses say that Israeli settlers and soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching the two for hours.

Palestinian American Hafez Ajaq, who witnessed the killing, told Diamond that the settlers would have beaten the group if they had caught up to their vehicle.

“If it would have took us five more seconds, we all would have been beaten with sticks,” Ajaq said.

https://twitter.com/JDiamond1/status/1944863035497308391

Ajaq’s own son, 17-year-old American citizen Tawfiq Ajaq, was shot in the head by Israeli settlers in January 2024. Israeli forces, who often back and protect Israeli settlers as they carry out violence against Palestinians, blocked an ambulance from reaching him. The Biden administration did virtually nothing to address his killing.

Musallet’s father, Kamel Musallet, said that he holds both the U.S. and Israeli governments responsible for Musallet’s killing and the continued impunity for his killers.

“They prevented the ambulance and allowed the settlers to do what they do anytime they want to,” he told CNN. “I hold the Israeli military just as responsible as the settlers, and the American government for not doing anything about this.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in a post on social media on Tuesday that he has asked Israel to investigate Musallet’s “murder,” calling it a “criminal and terrorist act.” However, the U.S. has deferred to Israel numerous times for investigations into killings of Americans by both settlers and soldiers, and has always deflected wrongdoing.

Musallet’s family has demanded that the U.S. investigate his killing and hold Israeli settlers responsible. The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Israeli settler groups and has sent assault rifles to Israel that were previously withheld due to concerns over settler violence.

Ajaq pointed out that this is just the latest instance of the U.S. and foreign governments enabling Israel’s violence as it slaughters Palestinians en masse.

“You scream into the whole world, and the whole world is watching, simply silent,” said Ajaq. “Seeing all these mothers put their sons that they worked so hard to raise them up for 20 years, and you pick them up and you put them in the ground, under the sky. And the silence goes on and on and on.”