Join the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) immediately investigate and prosecute the Israeli settler and any Israeli soldiers involved in the killing of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Mohammad Rabea, who was reportedly shot alongside two other teenagers near the entrance of Turmus Ayya in the Occupied West Bank.
Earlier today, CAIR sent a formal letter to Attorney General Bondi requesting an immediate U.S. criminal investigation into the killing and meeting between the Attorney General and members of the American Muslim community to discuss the Department’s response to this and other unprosecuted killings of U.S. citizens by Israeli forces.
TAKE ACTION: DEMAND DOJ INVESTIGATE ISRAELI MURDERS OF U.S. CITIZENS
According to reports in the media, illegal Israeli settlers opened fire on the boys during a protest. Omar was reportedly shot in the stomach and detained by Israeli soldiers who then refused to release him to paramedics, causing him to bleed to death.
To this day, the DOJ has never investigated or prosecuted an Israeli settler or soldier for the killing of a U.S. citizen. The U.S. government has similarly failed to act in multiple cases involving American citizens murdered by Israeli military forces and settlers, including:
- Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist killed while wearing a press vest.
- Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American peace activist fatally shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a peaceful protest.
- Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old American killed by an off-duty Israeli officer in the West Bank.
- Mohammad Khdour, another U.S. citizen and teen killed in a similar incident.
- Omar Assad, an 80-year-old Palestinian-American who died after being detained and abused by Israeli soldiers.
- Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American activist crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer in 2003 while trying to protect a Palestinian home in Gaza.
- Jacob Flickinger, a 33-year-old US-Canadian dual citizen, aid worker with World Central Kitchen, killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in 2024.
If the DOJ can prosecute crimes committed against Israeli-American citizens, it must do the same for Palestinian-American victims. American citizenship must not be rendered meaningless based on heritage or religion. The DOJ has a legal and moral obligation to protect the rights of all U.S. citizens — and to prosecute those who commit violent crimes against them, regardless of the perpetrator’s identity or nationality.
Last year, CAIR called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute the Israeli officials, soldiers and illegal settlers responsible for committing violent crimes against Palestinian-Americans, including the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and Turkish-American peace activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in the Occupied West Bank.
Also last year, CAIR said then Secretary of State Antony Blinken should resign after reports that he ended the investigation into the Israel military’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for war crimes and human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, including the killing of 80-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad.
CAIR also joined more than 60 national organizations in a letter to members of Congress urging them to support U.S. Representative Andre Carson’s Justice for Shireen Act (H.R. 3477, 118th Congress), which would require the FBI and U.S. State Department to publicly report on the circumstances surrounding Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.
In 2003, CAIR called for a suspension of aid to Israel after an Israeli bulldozer crushed American activist Rachel Corrie to death as she protested the destruction of a Palestinian home.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com