Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is blasting the Biden administration for its refusal to investigate an Israeli attack on a group of journalists, including an American, for over a year, and is urging the administration to open a probe.
In a letter sent to President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Sanders and 11 other members of Congress said that it is “unacceptable” that the State Department is not investigating the airstrike, which killed one journalist, Reuters’s Issam Abdallah, and injured six others in south Lebanon last year. One of the journalists injured was Dylan Collins, a U.S. citizen who works for Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The evidence clearly indicates that this was an unlawful direct attack on civilians in which a U.S. citizen was injured and was lucky to survive. Several journalists were severely injured, and one was killed. Mr. Collins has still not received any explanation for the attack from the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government. Nor, it appears, has the United States government,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter was signed by both Vermont senators and Vermont House Rep. Becca Balint (D), as well as critics of Israel like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). It comes just before lawmakers are set to vote on a set of resolutions introduced by Sanders that would block a massive $20 billion transfer of weapons to Israel, including tank rounds like the ones used in the attack.
The lawmakers had written to the Biden administration earlier this year calling for an investigation, and received a response from the State Department saying that the administration is relying only on an investigation by Israel — the perpetrators of the attack — on the incident. However, none of the survivors have been approached to provide testimony for this supposed investigation, and no details have been provided to the public of its findings.
The attack in question happened on October 13, 2023, when an Israeli tank fired two rounds and a machine gun on a group of journalists who were clearly and visibly marked as press. Collins, who hails from Vermont, was injured by tank shrapnel in his face, arms and back. Collins had scrambled to help an injured colleague, Christina Assi, who lost her legs in the attack.
There were no Hezbollah positions nearby, and, as the lawmakers point out, six separate investigations by human rights groups, and Reuters and AFP, found that the attack amounted to an unlawful attack on civilians.
Even though the State Department’s response to the lawmakers’ May inquiry suggested that the department thinks these investigations are credible, it is still not pursuing accountability for Israeli forces responsible, the lawmakers said.
“It is painfully obvious that the United States cannot rely on the Netanyahu government to ensure accountability for these attacks,” the lawmakers wrote. “Given this track record of inaction and impunity, and the Netanyahu government’s inaction on this specific case, we call on the U.S. government to immediately open an independent, impartial, comprehensive, and transparent investigation led by the Department of Justice into the attack.”
Collins himself has sought to provide the government with information on the attack, the lawmakers noted, having met with State Department officials and war crimes investigators from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and provided “detailed testimony,” the letter says.
“Nearly six months later, the United States government has not opened an investigation, taken any apparent steps to push for Israeli action, nor provided any significant update to Mr. Collins,” they wrote. “Mr. Collins deserves better from his own government.”
The government has also declined to investigate numerous other attacks on Americans. Earlier this month, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) sharply criticized the administration for refusing to investigate Israel’s killing of activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank.
Despite the administration admitting that it was unprovoked, Jayapal said that she has seen no evidence from State Department briefings or her conversations with Eygi’s family that the U.S. is independently probing the case.
“I am frankly appalled with the lack of movement on this case. I have received no information that gives me any assurance that the killing of a U.S. citizen by the IDF is being treated with the urgency it deserves,” she said. “We are seeing history repeat itself in a dangerous and unacceptable way.”
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