Vermont Man Claims CIA, Mossad Ordered Shooting of Three Palestinian Students

A Vermont man on trial for the November 2023 shooting of three Palestinian students has claimed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency instructed him to carry out the attack. Jason Eaton, 51, told authorities that the agencies communicated with him through FM radio and that he believed he was divinely compelled to protect his Jewish neighbors. His claims form the basis of an insanity defense in the attempted-murder case, although he does not dispute that he fired the shots.

The victims — Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, all 20 at the time were shot in Burlington, Vermont, weeks after the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza. The three men had grown up together in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank before moving to the United States for college. The attack generated widespread calls for prosecutors to pursue hate-crime charges, but no hate-crime charges were ultimately filed.

During opening arguments, defense attorney Joshua O’Hara said a defense psychiatrist would testify that Eaton was suffering from a delusional psychotic disorder after losing his job at a credit union roughly two weeks before the shooting. Eaton has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of the attempted-murder charges, he could face life imprisonment, while an insanity acquittal could result in compulsory psychiatric treatment.