US lawmaker seeks accountability for Israel’s killing of teens

US congresswoman Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) has written to the State Department to raise the case of two Palestinian teenagers killed by Israeli occupation forces in May 2014, asking whether the deaths should render the police unit responsible ineligible for US military aid and training.

In a letter dated August 18, McCollum requested that the shootings of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Daher during last year’s Nakba Day protest be raised with Israeli officials, and the importance of accountability stressed. The Democrat also asked that a US State Department representative be present at the trial.

In her third request, McCollum urged the State Department to investigate whether the killings “constitute violations of the ‘Leahy Law’”, which prohibits military assistance to foreign bodies that violate human rights with impunity.

“If a ‘Leahy Law’ violation occurred”, she wrote”, “then the 38th Company of the Israeli Border Police should be ineligible to receive future US military aid and training and all border police involved in this incident should be denied US visas as stipulated by the law.”

According to McCollum, “the murders of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Daher only highlight a brutal system of occupation that devalues and dehumanizes Palestinian children. It is time for a strong and unequivocal statement of US commitment to the human rights for Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation.”