By james art Three acting attorneys for the US government have accused the Justice Department of a “glaring gap” in complying with US law in cases where Israeli military forces or civilians have allegedly killed US citizens.
The lawyers, two of whom spoke anonymously to the BBC, raised concerns in a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland that there had been a “potential breach of US law”.
They cited cases of Americans allegedly killed in Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon and called on the ministry to launch investigations.
The Justice Department declined to comment when asked about the letter and other issues raised by its authors.
Asked to comment on the cases cited in the letter, the Israeli embassy in Washington said: “The State of Israel is committed to the rule of law. Each incident is thoroughly investigated by the IDF and appropriate conclusions are drawn.”
The letter highlights a series of principles regarding US citizens killed abroad that Mr Garland, who heads the Department of Justice (DoJ), has publicly outlined recently.
America’s top lawyer stressed the importance of applying US law when Americans are killed abroad and the need to expand US jurisdiction to prosecute alleged war crimes, regardless of the nationality of the accused.
The letter said: “We are writing to address a clear gap in our application of these principles in relation to potential violations of US law by Israeli government forces, citizens and others acting in concert with them.”
“Despite credible evidence of violations of U.S. law … the Department has taken no public steps to hold perpetrators accountable, even when the victims are U.S. citizens.
“[T]The department’s silence and apparent inaction is a glaring omission,” it added.
The letter’s authors say that, unlike the US State Department, the Justice Department has no formal mechanism for serving employees to express dissent. It is unclear how widely the views expressed in the letter are shared among the thousands of lawyers who work in the department.
Their letter cited five American citizens killed in the occupied West Bank – Aysenur Ezgi Eigi, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdur, Omar Assad and Shirin Abu Akle. Their families have demanded accountability from Israeli forces or settlers who are said to be responsible for their deaths.
He also cited the cases of American aid worker Jacob Flickinger, killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, and Kamel Ahmad Jawad, an American citizen killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
Two of the lawyers who wrote the letter, both federal prosecutors from the Ministry of Justice, spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity. They signed the letter to Mr. Garland with “your colleagues.”
One told the BBC that the apparent lack of action over the deaths of Americans suggested the Justice Department was acting as a “political apparatus” for its ally. The second describes “different treatment” when it comes to American citizens who have “ties to the Palestinians.”
The lawyer said: “This is a no-brainer… Everyone at the DoJ agrees that killing an American citizen is a non-starter. Don’t do that. So the silence here is deafening.
The lawyers’ letter notes that the US Department of Justice has brought charges against Hamas for the killings of US citizens. It also said the department had filed the first-ever charges under US war crimes statutes against members of the Russian military in connection with the illegal detention of a US citizen.
But the department said it has not announced an investigation into the deaths of Americans allegedly caused by Israeli military forces or civilians.
The lawyers are urging the US to “apply equal rigor” to all parties in these cases.
Their letter is the latest in a growing series of public criticisms over the past year, backed by hundreds of current and former US officials, of policy toward Israel and the war in Gaza.
Although the Justice Department did not comment on the letter, the US State Department, when asked about similar cases, said Israel was conducting its own independent investigations and that they should be allowed to run their course.
However, Palestinian and Israeli rights groups regularly point out that such investigations almost never lead to prosecution or meaningful accountability.
After intense public pressure, the FBI has reportedly opened an investigation into the 2022 case of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American correspondent for Al Jazeera who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
But this was never officially confirmed by the Justice Department, and the US never charged anyone in the case.