A 2021 University graduate is a sniper in an Israel Defense Forces unit responsible for killing multiple unarmed Palestinians in Gaza, according to an investigative report by British newspaper The Guardian.
The report, published on Tuesday, identified Daniel Raab, who graduated from the University in May 2021 with a degree in molecular and cellular biology, as part of a unit unofficially known as “refaim,” which can be translated to “ghost” in Hebrew. The Guardian said Raab appeared in drone footage and gave on-camera interviews describing his role in the shootings.
The Guardian’s findings
The Guardian conducted the five-month investigation with Paper Trail Media, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, and German news outlets ZDF and Der Spiegel. It traced Raab’s sniper position through photos and videos posted by Israeli soldiers.
Satellite imagery geolocated the site to a six-story building about 400 meters from where IDF snipers killed several Palestinians in Gaza on Nov. 22, 2023.
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According to the investigation, four members of the Doghmosh family — children Mohammed and Salem, their father Montasser and their cousin Mohammed Farid — were killed by Israeli sniper fire, with two other relatives injured.
Raab said he and another sniper carried out three of the killings documented in The Guardian’s investigation. That’s according to an interview conducted under deceptive circumstances — tricking Raab into believing he’d remain anonymous — by a team led by Palestinian journalist and activist Younis Tirawi.
Tirawi said a Hebrew-speaking intermediary approached Raab, claiming he was writing a piece commemorating the squad’s experiences and fallen soldiers. The intermediary promised Raab anonymity, but Tirawi later published identifying excerpts online, saying the decision was in the public interest given the scale of civilian killings.
There is no full video of Raab’s interview publicly available, but clips from it are included in a video posted by Tirawi on his X account. The Daily Illini did not independently verify the quotes from the interview, which was conducted in Hebrew.
“That was my first elimination,” Raab said about a video of the shooting of 19-year-old Salem Doghmosh, who was shot in the head as he walked down the street in northern Gaza, per The Guardian.
The investigation reported that Salem appeared unarmed at the time of his killing. Raab said he fired because Salem “tried to retrieve the body” of his older brother Mohammed, who had been shot moments earlier by another member of the unit.
“It’s hard for me to understand why he (did that), and it also doesn’t really interest me,” Raab reportedly said in the interview. “I mean, what was so important about that corpse?”
In excerpts from the interview, Raab described how his unit decided when to open fire on civilians.
“They’re thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t think (I’ll get shot) because I’m wearing civilian clothes and I am not carrying a weapon’ … but they were wrong,” Raab said, according to The Guardian. “That’s what you have snipers for.”
The Guardian reported that Israeli forces secretly designated the area a “combat zone,” indicating any man of “military age” as being “marked for death.” Raab described it as a line “we define” — an invisible perimeter Palestinians “don’t know … but we do.”
The report also cited multiple experts who said the documented shootings may violate international law protecting individuals’ recovering bodies. Asa Kasher, co-author of the IDF’s ethics code, told The Guardian that firing on those attempting to collect the dead is illegal.
Raab advocated for Israel on campus, in Naperville, D.C.
The IDF sniper has a history of advocating for Israel both at the University and in his reported hometown of Naperville, Illinois.
Raab served as outreach chair for Illini Students Supporting Israel. He was also involved with the Illini Public Affairs Committee, which supports U.S.-Israel relations at the University, according to a 2019 X post by ISSI. The post said he was a freshman at the time, meaning he likely enrolled in the University in Fall 2018.
Students for Justice in Palestine UIUC gave a presentation about the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2019, and the University launched an antisemitism investigation, saying the presentation incited “division, distrust and anger.” The Daily Illini cited Raab in a 2019 article about the incident, saying it was “a narrative of demonization of Israel and its citizens and Jewish students.”
In 2020, The DI cited Raab in a separate article opposing an Illinois Student Council resolution that called for the University to divest from defense companies that supplied technology and weapons for Israel.
Before graduating from the University in 2021, The DI quotes Raab in another article about campus tensions over Israel-Palestine. He spoke about his experiences as a Jewish student and said he was a victim of antisemitism.
Raab was cited as a Naperville Central High School graduate in May 2021 and as an organizer for Walk for Israel after unrest broke out during Israel-Palestine rallies in the Chicago suburb.
Raab spoke at “No Fear: A Rally in Solidarity With the Jewish People” later that summer on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., according to Jewish News Syndicate.
The DI was unable to reach Raab for comment. University officials, ISSI and IlliniPac did not immediately respond to a request for comment on The Guardian’s report.
UPDATE — Sept. 11
The University responded to The DI’s request for comment on Thursday but did not address The Guardian’s investigation.
“To our knowledge, the university has no ongoing relationship with this alumnus, and we have not received any formal communications or inquiries related to him,” wrote Pat Wade, director of executive communications and issues management, in an email.
