Department of Justice Doesn't Know the Names of Americans "Murdered" and "Taken Hostage" in Israel on October 7, 2023.

I sent this FOIA request to the DOJ OIP on February 16, 2025:

This is a request for information submitted under “The Freedom of Information Act,” 5 U.S.C. § 552.

REFERENCE MATERIAL OF REQUEST:

In the DOJ’s Indictment of Senior Members of Hamas, unsealed on September 03, 2024, the DOJ stated the following: “As of the date of this Complaint, at least 43 American citizens were among those murdered, and at least ten American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for.”

THE REQUEST:

I hereby request the DOJ OIP provide the names of the 43 American citizens who were murdered on October 07, 2023 in Israel and the names of the “at least ten” American citizens who were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for.

EXPEDITED PROCESSING:

I hereby request expedited processing.

The FOIA.gov web portal outlines the basis for which I am requesting expedited processing.

It states: “A ‘compelling need’ can be shown by: … demonstrating that there exists an ‘urgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged Federal Government activity.’”

Yoav Gallant told Israel’s Channel 12 on February 06, 2025 that Israel’s military fired on vehicles containing hostages. Multiple international press reports have described how Israel indiscriminately killed their own citizens in large numbers on October 07, 2023 under the so-called “Hannibal Directive.”

An urgent and compelling need exists to inform the public of the extent to which the DOJ has engaged in selective prosecution which omits and/or misrepresents Israel’s role in the deaths of American citizens in Israel on October 07, 2023.

An urgent and compelling need exists to inform the public of the extent to which Israel killed American citizens on October 07, 2023 in order to shape developing government policy in Palestine.

Aside: “Shape Developing Government Policy in Palestine.”

Response from U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy:

Re: FOIA-2025-02706

Dear Charles Wright:

This responds to your Freedom of Information Act request dated February 16, 2025 and received in this Office on February 18, 2025 seeking records concerning American citizens killed or taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Your request has been received by the Office of Information Policy (OIP) of the United States Department of Justice, which processes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) requests for records it maintains as well as records maintained by the Offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Associate Attorney General, Public Affairs, Legislative Affairs, Legal Policy, and Executive Secretariat. OIP also adjudicates administrative appeals of denials of FOIA/PA requests made to the Department. This Office maintains the case files for the initial requests and administrative appeals it processes. For your information, neither this Office nor any of these senior leadership offices of the Department typically maintains records on individuals and, as such, would not maintain the type of records you are seeking.

Please be advised that the FOIA provides a right of access to federal agency records that exist and can be located in federal agency files. The FOIA does not require agencies to conduct research for you, to analyze data, to answer questions, or to create new records in response to a FOIA request. Moreover, the FOIA does not apply to records that are maintained by states, counties, or cities, or by the legislative or judicial branches of the government.

For your information, the FOIA operation for both the Department of Justice and the federal government is decentralized and each Department component and federal entity maintains and handles FOIA requests for its own records. Accordingly, you need to direct your letter to the office(s) you believe have records pertaining to the subject of your request.

Additional information regarding the federal governments administration of the FOIA, including a listing of FOIA contact information, is available at www.foia.gov. Based on the information you have provided, you may want to direct your request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the federal entity most likely to maintain the records you are seeking.

To be of assistance, below I have provided the web address for the Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act Reference Guide (Reference Guide), which provides guidance for making FOIA/PA requests to the Department of Justice. The Reference Guide, located on the Department website at http://www.justice.gov/oip/04 3.html, also contains a listing of the Department of Justice components, with a brief description of their functions and the records they maintain, as well as the addresses of their FOIA offices.

It seems to me like if the Department of Justice would indict people for terrorism including 43 “murdered” American citizens and at least ten American citizens “taken hostage or unaccounted for,” they should at least know their names.

Charles Wright