The pro-Palestinian Hind Rajab Foundation asked U.S. authorities on Tuesday to arrest a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen known as “Jake,” who is in the United States attending the 2026 World Cup in Los Angeles. The group says it previously filed a criminal complaint against him in Sri Lanka last month, while he was there on vacation.
HRF alleges Jake served in Company D of the IDF’s 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion, under the 7th Armored Brigade, after volunteering following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. According to the foundation, the unit took part in extensive destruction in Gaza, and its investigators documented at least 65 controlled demolitions between October 2023 and mid-2025, targeting homes, mosques, farmland and industrial sites, as well as alleged attacks on hospitals, illegal detention and abuse of civilians.
The group says its inquiry found Jake was directly tied to at least one unlawful demolition in Khan Younis in October-November 2025. It claims he posted photos and videos showing him inside Gaza, including in Khan Younis and Rafah, and that in one clip he held a detonator cable inside a destroyed civilian building alongside other soldiers. In another, he reportedly shared a demolition video geolocated to Khan Younis and marked with his company’s emblem.
HRF argues that because Jake is an American citizen now in the U.S., American courts have jurisdiction and an obligation to prosecute him for war crimes, genocide and other serious offenses. It wants the Justice Department to arrest him, open a criminal investigation, prosecute him in federal court, and stop him from leaving the country. The foundation says it has filed about 100 complaints in dozens of countries over the past two years, and has also sent the names of about 1,000 soldiers to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Its founder, Diab Abou Jahjah, is a Lebanese-born Belgian citizen who has been linked to Hezbollah.
