Prem Thakker at Zeteo: It’s now been more than 200 days since Israeli forces killed 6-year-old Hind Rajab, her family members, and the medics sent to save her.
Since then, I have pressed the US State Department time and again on the killing. At nearly every point, the department has deflected, saying the Israeli government is investigating itself.
In the early aftermath of the attack, I pointed out that the Israeli government had plenty of material for an investigation: the location, a heart-wrenching emergency phone call Hind and her sister made, timestamps, emergency worker testimony.
And yet, 200 days have passed. If Israel has fully investigated the killing, the results have not been made public. No one has been held publicly accountable.
The Israeli military did not respond to an inquiry about the investigation.
Meanwhile, independent investigators from UK-based firm Forensic Architecture found that it was “not plausible” that Israeli forces did not see who they shot 335 bullets at.
When I asked about Forensic Architecture’s conclusion in June, a State Department spokesperson said that Israel told the US there were no tanks in the area and that the Palestinian Red Crescent did not respond to its outreach on the matter.
The claim that there were no tanks in the area was already disproven by Forensic Architecture, Al Jazeera, and the Washington Post. More importantly, Hind herself said she saw tanks as she pleaded for help before the phone call horrifyingly cut amid her screams.
I asked if the US verified any of the Israeli government’s claims. They said no. “It is not for us to do it.”
In the nearly seven months since the killings, I and others have repeatedly asked the State Department about the incident, the status of investigations, and how the US could continue sending Israel money and weapons if it could not get straightforward answers on the case.
US law requires foreign governments to provide assurances they won’t violate international law with US-supplied weapons. While the US found that Israel likely violated the law with American-made weapons, it has not acted on the conclusion — and, in fact, has released more funds to Israel to buy more U.S. weapons.
When I asked about Hind’s case this week – on day 197 since she was killed – the State Department was curt: it had no updates.
I also contacted the Red Crescent, which said Israel never reached out.
More here.
