Attorneys for the Justice Department wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland this week, calling out the “glaring gap” between the department’s approach to crimes committed by Russia and Hamas — versus the department’s own. silence on potential crimes committed by Israeli forces and civilians.

The four-page letter, dated Oct. 21, specifically asks the department to investigate potential crimes by Israeli soldiers and civilians, including the killing of American citizens in the West Bank and Gaza.

“In prosecuting crimes committed by Russia, Hamas and other criminals, the Department has duly demonstrated its commitment to maintaining the rule of law amid ongoing geopolitical conflicts,” the letter said. “But against the backdrop of numerous potential violations of US law by individuals and entities affiliated with Israel, the Department’s silence and apparent inaction is a total omission.”

The letter, which was first reported by Zeteo, a new media organization on Substack, is a rare example of a public disagreement within the Justice Department. Unlike the State Department, there is no established internal channel for DOJ employees to voice dissent on a policy issue.

NPR reported two weeks ago about the Justice Department’s silence on four American citizens killed this year in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — the victims’ families say by the Israelis — despite demands from the Americans’ families that the department investigate.

The DOJ letter was anonymously signed “to your colleagues.” NPR has confirmed that the three authors of the letter are mid-career attorneys at the Justice Department.

It’s unclear how widespread the views expressed in the letter are among the roughly 10,000 lawyers who work at the Justice Department, or what impact they might have.

One of the authors, speaking on condition of anonymity because of concerns about potential professional retaliation, told NPR that the letter was emailed Monday to Attorney General Matt Klapper’s chief of staff from an email account from outside the department.

The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.

“Fair and impartial application”

During his time as attorney general, Garland spoke frequently about following the rules and “treating similar cases alike.” That was the theme of a major speech he gave in the department’s Great Hall to the DOJ workforce on September 12.

In that speech, the letter says, Garland told department employees that “as government attorneys, we should not be swayed by, among other factors, a person’s past, our feelings about victims, and the effect of a impeachment decisions on our professional and personal circumstances.”

The letter also raises remarks Garland made after Congress passed the Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act of 2022, which allows the department to try an alleged war criminal in the US, regardless of the individual’s nationality.

“In the United States of America, there must be no hiding places for war criminals and no safe havens for those who commit such atrocities,” Garland said at the time. “This bill will help the Department of Justice fulfill this important mandate.”

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Garland publicly condemned “war crimes that the whole world saw” and established a special task force to focus on possible Russian atrocities. The department has since charged four Russian soldiers with war crimes in Ukraine for allegedly kidnapping and torturing an American citizen.

In the Israel-Hamas conflict, Garland has publicly confirmed that the department is investigating the killing and kidnapping of Americans in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The department also brought charges of terrorism six Hamas leaders.

But, the letter said, there was a “glaring gap” in the department’s enforcement of potential violations of US law by government forces and Israeli citizens.

“Despite credible evidence of violations of US law, and contrary to the department’s public position on the crimes committed by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, the department has taken no public action to hold the perpetrators accountable, even when the victims are American citizens. “, it is said.

The letter lists several American citizens who have been killed this year by Israeli soldiers or civilians, including Jacob Flickinger, Aysenur Eygi, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour.

“Not only has no one been held accountable, but the department has made virtually no public announcement of any investigation or even an acknowledgment of its commitment to accountability,” the letter said.

It also says there is “credible evidence” that the Israeli military has committed war crimes in Gaza, including forced displacement and starvation, illegal detention, torture and inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees, and mass destruction of civilian property and infrastructure.

Warning about the “apparatus of politics”

The International Criminal Court prosecutor has sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The prosecutor also sought arrest warrants for three top Hamas figures on the same charges, although all three were killed by Israel.

Israel, a close American ally that the US supplies with weapons, says its actions in Gaza were in accordance with the laws of war.

The letter from DOJ lawyers points out that US courts would have jurisdiction over Israeli soldiers or officials traveling to the US, as well as the more than 23,000 US citizens who are said to be currently serving in the Israeli military.

The same rigor that has been applied to hold Russian and Hamas perpetrators accountable should be applied “where the perpetrators are acting on behalf of a political ally and the victims are stateless,” the letter said. “The disparate treatment of the behavior of Israeli actors, reflected in both the public statements and the accusations the Department has brought, risks the very implication you warned about: that our Department has become an ‘apparatus of politics.’

The department should open investigations into the killings of Americans and potential Israeli war crimes, if it has not already done so, the letter said, and publicly say it is investigating. The letter also suggests that the DOJ and FBI create a web page to collect evidence of potential Israeli war crimes, similar to what was created to collect evidence of possible Russian war crimes.

“Doing so will not only allow the department to raise awareness and provide guidance to those who may hold evidence of such crimes, but will restore public faith in the department’s commitment to the basic principles of justice and equality under the law “, it is said. .

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