US lawmaker says that government must arrest Israeli commander allegedly responsible for attack while he is in the US.
United States Representative Rashida Tlaib has called for her government to arrest the commander of an Israeli military unit believed to be responsible for the killing of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in Gaza.
In a social media post on Monday, Tlaib pointed to reports that Israeli soldier Sean Glass was present in the US. She emphasised that the US had a legal responsibility to probe his involvement in Rajab’s death.
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“As a party to the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions, our government is obligated to arrest and investigate him for these war crimes and acts of genocide,” she wrote.
As part of her post, Tlaib shared a report from the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), which tracks Israeli soldiers suspected of war crimes in Gaza.
The group said it has filed an emergency request for the US Department of Justice to arrest Glass.
“Sean Glass commanded the ‘Vampire Empire’ Company implicated in the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, members of her family, and the medics sent to rescue them. HRF’s investigation places him and his troops in the direct vicinity of Hind’s vehicle during the killing,” the group said in a statement.
“Today, Glass walks free in the United States. HRF demands that the US authorities arrest him and bring him to justice.”
The five-year-old’s killing on January 29, 2024, triggered global outrage and became a symbol of Israel’s targeting of Palestinian civilians and children during its genocidal war on Gaza.
Rajab and her family were attempting to leave Gaza City when their vehicle came under Israeli fire.
Her family was killed in the gunfire. Rajab called emergency services, appealing to rescuers, “I’m so scared. Please come!”
Recordings of her telephone call made international news. But both Rajab and the rescue team that tried to reach her were ultimately killed by Israeli forces.
The car Rajab was in was riddled with 335 bullet holes, which Israeli authorities initially blamed on a firefight with Palestinian fighters.
An investigation by the group Forensic Architecture found no evidence of an exchange of fire and concluded that only Israeli forces had been present in the area at the time of the incident.
Israel has opened a probe into the killings, but such investigations are seen by Palestinians as a means of dodging accountability and buying time until outrage over an incident dissipates.
Experts at the United Nations and other human rights watchdogs have declared Israel’s assault on Gaza to be a genocide. At least 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 21,000 children.
The US has continued to bolster Israel with diplomatic, military and economic assistance despite evidence of routine war crimes by Israeli forces in Gaza and elsewhere.
It has also denounced the International Criminal Court (ICC) for seeking the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes.