A thousand days of Israeli impunity, still no justice for Shireen Abu Akleh

Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent, was killed on May 11, 2022, 1,000 days after being killed while covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

When she was killed in a “cold-blooded assassination,” the Al Jazeera Media Network described her as “cold-blooded assassination,” she was wearing a helmet and a clearly marked press vest.

Investigative investigations into her death by Israeli forces, including those conducted by news organizations, human rights organizations, and the UN, all came to the same conclusion.

The killing of Shireen

A household name in the Arabic-speaking world, Abu Akleh was a Palestinian-American journalist who covered the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory for 25 years.

On the day she was killed, she was with several colleagues in a safe area away from clashes and crossfire, although there was an Israeli army convoy about 200 metres (660 feet) away.

The shooting was caught on video and showed Abu Akleh falling to the ground, motionless. Her coworkers were shot at as they attempted to assist her.

Her death shocked the world and put Israeli journalist killings in Israel in the spotlight.

Israel’s soldiers have been held accountable for the 22 years of killing 20 Palestinian journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, CPJ found that Israel has killed 159 Palestinian journalists.

There is little political will to launch a criminal investigation in Israel, the United States, or international courts despite mounting proof that Abu Akleh was directly targeted.

What is the entire story behind Abu Akleh’s struggle for justice, in detail.

What did Israel say?

Israel initially suggested that the journalist had been killed by Palestinian fighters in an attempt to discredit the incident.

However, it eventually walked that claim back and acknowledged its troops were responsible for her death, saying it was “an accident”.

Israel’s military announced a week later that it would not be conducting an investigation into the incident out of concern that Israeli media would stir up unrest against its soldiers, according to Israeli news reports.

Israel’s army spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that the army was “deeply sorry” for the death of Abu Akleh and that there was no intention of starting legal proceedings against the soldiers alleged to be responsible for the killing a year later.

Following Israel’s apology, the United States dropped its request for an Israeli criminal investigation.

What did the US say?

It has been inconsistent, to say the least

The administration of then-US President Joe Biden said that the murderers should be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law” right away after Abu Akleh’s death.

After Israel acknowledged that its soldiers had killed Abu Akleh and rejected calls for a criminal investigation, claiming the shooting was an “accident,” it changed its tune. It also dropped demands that Israel launch an Israeli police investigation in September 2022.

Two months later, the US Federal Bureau for Investigation (FBI) opened a probe&nbsp, that was welcomed by rights groups and Arab civil society in the US, but Israel has reportedly not cooperated with the investigation.

Did the US investigate?

US forensic experts were given the bullet that killed Abu Akleh by the Palestinian Authority (PA), a governing body in the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s involvement in the analysis was reportedly feared by the Israeli government as a means of preventing the Israeli government from holding its own troops accountable.

Israel was still making claims that Abu Akleh had been killed by Palestinian armed groups in a willful manner at the time.

But two days after receiving the bullet, then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the analysis was “inconclusive” because the bullet was badly damaged.

Who else published investigations?

Numerous well-known news outlets and open-source investigative teams conducted own investigations.

In May 2022, CNN reported that it had two videos that suggested Abu Aqleh was shot dead in an Israeli-style attack.

The British-based group Al-Haq and Forensic Architecture, a group with a focus on open-source architecture and methods, conducted a joint investigation.

Abu Akleh was killed deliberately, according to their findings, which were made public in September 2022.

In addition, Al Jazeera’s Front Lines documentary, The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, was released in December 2022 and cast doubt on Israel’s initial claims that she was killed by Palestinian gunfire or by crossfire.

Did the ICC do anything?

Al Jazeera Media Network requested in December 2022 that Israel file a lawsuit against Israel for the killing of Abu Akleh.

The Palestinian press syndicate had supported Abu Akleh’s family in submitting a similar request to the court in September of that year.

The ICC has not yet made any announcements regarding whether to file a case against Abu Akleh for justice.

What about the UN?

A UN International Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territory on October 16, 2023, concluded that Israeli forces targeted Abu Akleh “lethal force without justification.”

Additionally, it stated that the Israeli security forces’ Duvdevan Unit had engaged in this activity on grounds that was reasonable.

Eight witness testimony, a review of the open-source information, and investigations by news organizations like Al Jazeera, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times were the foundation of the commission’s conclusions.

Source: Aljazeera