By Allan Lengel
Two former government attorneys weigh in on criminal action they think the U.S. should take against Hamas leaders as a result of the kidnappings of American citizens.
Attorney Steven Pelak, formerly of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. and the National Security Division at DOJ, co-authored a column in The Hill about the hostage situation with Orde Kittrie, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a law professor at Arizona State University and a former U.S. State Department attorney.
They write:
“Publicly available evidence demonstrates that Hamas’s principal leaders, including those residing in Qatar and Turkey, are responsible for the ongoing hostage-taking of U.S. citizens in violation of U.S. law. President Biden, acting through the Justice Department, should immediately announce and pursue the prosecutions of culpable Hamas leaders. He should demand that Doha and Ankara provisionally arrest and detain them to facilitate U.S. custody for criminal prosecution.
“Hamas holds hostage nearly 240 men, women and children, including nine or 10 U.S. citizens, who the terrorist group seized in Israel on Oct. 7. In addition, among the more than 1,200 people Hamas murdered in Israel on Oct. 7 were at least 33 U.S. citizens, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Those acts constitute violations of federal criminal laws, prohibiting hostage-taking and murders of U.S. citizens, for which the culpable leaders and planners should be held to account.”
The two point out that the U.S. long ago declared Hamas a terrorist organization and named leaders Haniyeh, Al-Arouri, Mashaal, Yahya Al Sinwar, Mousa Abu Marzook and others as global terrorists. They also note that some of the leadership operate out of other countries like Turkey and Qatar.
