Maureen Clare Murphy Rights and Accountability
28 June 2022
Pressure is mounting on US President Joe Biden in the absence of an Israeli criminal investigation into the killing of prominent Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The Committee to Protect Journalists – a New York-based press freedoms watchdog – is calling on Biden to “lead a thorough, independent and transparent investigation” into Abu Akleh’s death.
Investigations undertaken by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, the Palestinian Authority, CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the UN human rights office all point to Israeli responsibility for Abu Akleh’s death.
Abu Akleh, who held US citizenship, was shot on 11 May while covering an Israeli raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin last month. She was wearing a helmet and a protective vest marked “PRESS” when she was shot and killed instantly.
Ali Samoudi, a producer, was shot in the shoulder and survived. Witnesses and survivors of the shooting said that the journalists came under Israeli fire and there were no armed Palestinians present or exchange of fire at the time – contrary to Israel’s claims.
“While your administration has called for an investigation, more than one month after Abu Akleh’s killing, only journalists have carried out serious probes of the incident,” the Committee to Protect Journalists stated.
The watchdog added that “Israel’s attacks on journalists and media facilities is a trend that [the Committee to Protect Journalists] has documented over decades,” with nearly 20 journalists killed while carrying out their work in the West Bank and Gaza since 1992.
The group noted that “exactly one year prior to Abu Akleh’s killing … Israeli warplanes began a bombing campaign targeting at least four buildings in Gaza housing the offices of 18 international and local media outlets.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it has not yet received a response from Israeli authorities to a letter asking them to “make public any evidence” that – as Israel claimed – Hamas was using “those buildings for military purposes.”
The watchdog noted that Israel has suggested that Abu Akleh’s killing was justified, with military spokesperson Ran Kochav proclaiming that the targeted journalists were “armed with cameras, if you’ll permit me to say so.”
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