WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), and nine other Members of Congress today wrote to the Biden Administration demanding the United States open an independent investigation into an Israeli attack on a group of journalists, including American journalist and Vermonter Dylan Collins.

“It has now been more than one year since Mr. Collins was injured in a targeted Israeli strike while on assignment for AFP,” wrote the members in the letter to President Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “To date, Mr. Collins has received no explanation for the attack, and there have been no steps toward accountability. Given the inaction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the United States must open an independent investigation into this incident.”

On October 13, 2023, American journalist Dylan Collins was injured in a targeted Israeli strike while on assignment for Agence France-Presse (AFP). Collins was part of a group of journalists covering the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The group was clearly marked as press and had selected an open and highly visible position to minimize the risk of misidentification – one that was clearly visible to several Israeli military positions. The group had been filming from that location for close to an hour when they were struck twice by Israeli tank rounds and machine gun fire.

Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed. Six other journalists from Reuters, AFP, and Al Jazeera were seriously wounded. Collins – the only U.S. citizen involved in the incident – sustained shrapnel wounds to his face, arms, and back. Despite Collins’s efforts to apply a tourniquet, his colleague lost her leg in the attack.

Six rigorous investigations – by UNIFIL, Reuters, AFP, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research – have all independently corroborated these details, based on video footage and multiple first-hand accounts, and concluded that it was an unlawful attack on civilians. 

In response to an earlier letter sent in May by the Vermont delegation, the State Department indicated that the incident was under investigation in Israel. In fact, more than one year later, no survivors or other witnesses have been approached to provide testimony. No updates have been provided to the public, the survivors, or the media organizations that they worked for. Given the Israeli government’s failure to investigate numerous similar attacks on journalists, “there is no reason to believe the Netanyahu government will take any action,” wrote the members. “The U.S. government must therefore act to ensure accountability for attacks on its citizens.

In addition to criminal culpability under the War Crimes Act of 1996 (18 USC 2441), as well as other relevant U.S. and customary international law, the U.S. must also credibly establish whether the Israeli attack violated applicable laws governing the use of U.S. security assistance. 

This is particularly important as the U.S. Congress will soon consider Joint Resolutions of Disapproval – introduced in September by Sen. Sanders, Welch, and Merkley – regarding the sale of additional arms to Israel, including 32,739 additional 120mm tank cartridges, the same rounds used against Collins and his journalist colleagues.

Joining Sanders on the letter are Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Reps. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), 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.).

“Mr. Collins deserves better from his own government,” wrote the members.

Read the full letter, here.