Sanders Demands DOJ Investigate Israel for Targeting American Journalist

Twelve congressional representatives, spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, sent a letter on Tuesday urging the Biden administration to initiate an independent investigation into an Israeli assault that targeted journalists, including U.S. citizen Dylan Collins, in Lebanon the previous year.

Collins, originally from Vermont and employed by
Agence France-Presse, was the sole American among a group of journalists who were subjected to Israeli tank fire on October 13, 2023, shortly after a Hamas-led strike on Israel. The attack injured him and five others, while Lebanese Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed.

The journalists were reporting on the exchange of fire across the border involving the Lebanese political and military organization Hezbollah and Israeli forces, which were backed diplomatically and militarily by the Biden administration and Congress, during the initial phase of a retaliatory offensive on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a campaign for which Israel is currently facing genocide charges.

The letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Attorney General Merrick Garland was sent as Israel intensified its military actions in Gaza and escalated operations against its northern neighbor, resulting in civilian casualties and jeopardizing United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers.

“Mr. Collins deserves better from his own government.”

The signatories of the letter include Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

“To date, Mr. Collins has not been given any explanation for the attack, nor have there been any moves towards holding those responsible accountable,” the letter reads, directly criticizing Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Given the lack of action from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s administration, the United States must conduct an independent investigation into this incident.”

The journalists were “clearly identified as press and had deliberately chosen a highly visible open location on a hilltop near the Blue Line to reduce the risk of being mistaken for combatants,” the lawmakers stated. “The group was clearly visible to various Israeli military positions, as well as an Israeli Apache helicopter and drone overhead. There were no Hezbollah positions nearby. The group had been filming from this location for nearly an hour when, despite these precautions, they were hit twice by Israeli tank shells, followed by a burst of .50 caliber heavy machine gun fire.”

“Six thorough investigations—by UNIFIL, Reuters, AFP, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)—have all independently verified these facts based on video evidence and numerous firsthand accounts, concluding that it was an illegal attack on civilians,” they noted.

In reference to the Vermont delegation’s previous communication about Collins’ situation, the lawmakers highlighted that “in its June 27 reply to our earlier letter, the State Department placed considerable weight on these investigations, suggesting that the department finds them credible.”

The letter further states:

This incident reflects a broader pattern of negligence by the Israeli military towards the safety of civilians, including journalists and humanitarian workers. The Committee to Protect Journalists notes that 116 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli military actions since October 7, 2023, a record number. The United Nations reports that 173 journalists and media workers have been killed, along with 228 United Nations staff.

It is clear that the United States cannot depend on the Netanyahu government for accountability in these incidents. For many years, Israeli authorities have not pursued investigations or accountability for attacks on journalists.

“We urge the U.S. government to immediately commence an independent, impartial, comprehensive, and transparent investigation led by the Department of Justice into the attack,” the lawmakers wrote. “This investigation is essential to verify the details of the attack, understand why it occurred, identify those responsible up the chain of command, and hold accountable those who ordered and executed the attack.”

“Mr. Collins has fulfilled his role,” the members of Congress emphasized, noting his meetings with U.S. officials and his provision of video evidence of the attack. “Mr. Collins deserves better from his own government.”

They also stressed the significance of the attack in the context of the billions of dollars in security assistance that the U.S. provides to Netanyahu’s government, stating, “This is especially critical as the United States Congress considers joint resolutions of disapproval regarding the sale of additional arms to Israel, including 32,739 more 120mm tank cartridges, the same type of rounds used against Mr. Collins and his fellow journalists (and numerous other civilian targets).”

The call for action by Sanders and his colleagues followed a plea by McGovern and 64 other House Democrats to Biden and Blinken to “take urgent steps to advocate for unrestricted, independent media access” to Gaza.

The Monday group emphasized that the “effective ban on foreign reporting has placed an overwhelming burden on local journalists who are documenting the war they experience firsthand. Tragically, at least 130 journalists have died since the conflict began, and those who survive face extreme hardship and danger.”

Also on Monday,
Zeteo exclusively revealed that Justice Department lawyers have urged Garland to “investigate potential violations of U.S. law by the Israeli government, military, and citizens, and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

Specifically, according to Zeteo, they are calling for investigations into the killing of U.S. citizens by Israeli citizens and soldiers, including Ayşenur Eygi, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Jacob Flickinger, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, and Shireen Abu Akleh, as well as Israel’s illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and evidence of troops committing war crimes and torture.