Tlaib Calls for Arrest of Israeli Officer Sean Glass Over Hind Rajab Killing, Citing DOJ Filing

Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Monday called for federal authorities to arrest Sean Glass, a former commander in the Israeli military's 52nd Armoured Battalion, after the Hind Rajab Foundation told the Department of Justice he was present in the United States and asked prosecutors to investigate, arrest and prosecute him.

"As a party to the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions, our government is obligated to arrest and investigate him for these war crimes and acts of genocide," Tlaib wrote.

The foundation alleges Glass commanded the unit that opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and her relatives in Gaza City on January 29, 2024. According to the group, geolocation analysis and documentation of unit movements place Glass and soldiers from what it calls his "Vampire Empire" Company within a few hundred meters of the vehicle at the time of the attack, and it says statements Glass has made about his Gaza operations support the conclusion that he most likely gave the order to fire. Those allegations have not been tested in any court.

Hind's six-year-old cousin, Layan Hamadeh, called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society for help before she was killed. Hind herself then spent hours on the phone with emergency dispatchers, trapped in the car and surrounded by the bodies of her relatives, pleading to be rescued. The recordings of those calls spread widely and made her death one of the most recognized images of child casualties in the war. An ambulance sent to reach her was also struck, killing two paramedics. Her body and those of the rescuers were found days later.

Israel's account at the time described an exchange of fire with Palestinian fighters at the scene. A subsequent investigation by the research group Forensic Architecture found no evidence to support that version of events.

The Hind Rajab Foundation says it has separately submitted material on Glass and other Israeli soldiers to the International Criminal Court and to national judicial authorities in multiple countries. The group also accuses Glass of involvement in the assault on Al-Shifa Hospital, the destruction of UNRWA's Gaza headquarters, and the seizure of the Rafah Crossing, and says he publicly celebrated the destruction his unit carried out. None of those broader allegations have been adjudicated.

The DOJ request is the latest instance of the foundation attempting to use national court systems outside Israel to pursue Israeli soldiers over their conduct in Gaza. The same organization, together with the International Federation for Human Rights and the European Legal Support Centre, is also appealing a Warsaw prosecutor's dismissal of a complaint accusing Polish state explosives maker Nitro-Chem of supplying TNT that ended up in American-made bombs transferred to Israel.