'Deafening silence': US journalist wounded by Israel says his government has done nothing
A small group of Democratic lawmakers, alongside the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, called on Israel and the Trump administration on Thursday to carry out a full and independent investigation into the first alleged targeting of journalists by Israel as it launched its wars on Gaza and Lebanon after 7 October 2023.
Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah had been covering clashes between the Israeli military and the Lebanese group Hezbollah near the Israel-Lebanon frontier on 13 October 2023 when he was killed.
Identifiable as members of the media, he and a group of reporters with him had been stationary for around 75 minutes before they were hit by two shells, which eyewitnesses at the scene said came from Israel.
Two other Reuters journalists, Thaer al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh; two Al Jazeera TV staffers, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar; and two AFP journalists, Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, were wounded in the attack.
Assi had to have a leg amputated, Collins, who flew in from Lebanon, told reporters outside the US Capitol on Thursday.
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As a US citizen, he said he'd approached both the Biden and Trump administrations to get answers and transparency, but was met with "deafening silence".
Neither of them had "ever publicly acknowledged that a US citizen was wounded in this attack", he said, explaining that he'd sustained shrapnel wounds.
"For two years, I've made trips to the Capitol. I've met with lawmakers. I've met with the State Department. I've met with the FBI. I've sat down and showed them the raw footage. I've handed them physical copies of the investigations. As an American, I thought I'd find support. I thought my government would fight for me," Collins said.
'I thought my government would fight for me'
- Dylan Collins, AFP journalist
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Vermont Democratic Congresswoman Becca Balint, "along with dozens of other members of Congress have tried for over two years to get accountability for this attack", Vermont Democratic Senator Peter Welch, who represents Collins' home state, told reporters.
"We've been stonewalled at every turn," he added. "Today I'm sending my seventh letter to the secretary of state."
The lawmakers said their questions aren't difficult to answer: they want to know which unit within the Israeli military fired on the journalists. They want to know whether Israel has had any kind of undisclosed internal investigation. And they want to know if US officials ever spoke to their Israeli counterparts about the attack.
"This was the first targeted attack on journalists after the October 7 attacks, but we've seen the same thing happen again and again and again, and nothing's changing. It's taken a significant toll on me, personally," Collins said.
More than 260 media professionals have been killed by Israel in Gaza alone since that time.
Direct hits
In February 2024, a United Nations inquiry determined that an Israeli tank caused the death of Abdallah by launching two 120mm shells at a group of "clearly identifiable journalists", in breach of international law.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) concluded in a report that their observers did not witness any cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon for over 40 minutes prior to the moment an Israeli Merkava tank initiated fire.
"The firing at civilians, in this instance clearly identifiable journalists, constitutes a violation of UNSCR 1701 (2006) and international law," said the seven-page Unifil report, referring to Security Council resolution 1701.
"It is assessed that there was no exchange of fire across the Blue Line at the time of the incident," it added.
"(The) IDF should conduct an investigation into the incident and a full review of their procedures at the time to avoid a recurrence," the report said in its recommendations, referring to the Israeli army.
"The IDF should share their investigation's findings with Unifil."
No such action was taken.
Three other reports into the killing of Abdallah were published in December 2024 by Reuters, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.
All three found that two Israeli missiles were fired at the group of journalists reporting from south Lebanon near the village of Alma el-Chaab.
Human Rights Watch said it found no evidence of a military target near their location.
Amnesty International said the missiles were "likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime".
Using video evidence, expert audio analysis, and witness accounts, Human Rights Watch said it appeared the group was visible to the cameras of a nearby unmanned aerial vehicle that was "most likely Israeli".
The group was also “within line of sight of five Israeli surveillance towers, and most likely targeted by at least one munition fired from the main gun of a tank from an Israeli military position approximately 1.5 kilometres south-east” from the Israeli frontier, the report said.
There were two direct hits on the group of journalists that came in the space of 37 seconds, and the second strike was likely a small guided missile, Amnesty said.
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