Israeli officials angered by Al Jazeera’s submission of request to ICC to probe Abu Akleh’s killing

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli occupation’s officials are outraged by Al Jazeera’s request for an ICC investigation into the cold-blooded killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Al Jazeera Media Network announced on Tuesday that it has submitted a formal request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute Israel’s killing of the veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Despite wearing a protective helmet and blue bulletproof vest clearly marked as “PRESS,” the 51-year-old veteran journalist was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the head while she was covering an Israeli military raid into the Jenin refugee camp on May 11, sparking international outrage and calls for accountability for attacks on journalists.

Al Jazeera’s request includes a dossier on a comprehensive six-month investigation by Al Jazeera that gathers all available eyewitness evidence and video footage, as well as new material on the killing of Abu Akleh.

The request submitted to the ICC is presented “in the context of a wider attack on Al Jazeera, and journalists in Palestine”, said Rodney Dixon KC, a lawyer for Al Jazeera, referring to incidents such as the bombing of the network’s Gaza office on May 15, 2021.

“It’s not a single incident, it’s a killing that is part of a wider pattern that the prosecution should be investigating to identify those who are responsible for the killing, and to bring charges against them,” he said.

“The focus is on Shireen, and this particular killing, this outrageous killing. But the evidence we submit looks at all of the acts against Al Jazeera because it has been targeted as an international media organization.

“And the evidence shows that what the [Israeli] authorities are trying to do is to shut it up,” Dixon said.

Al Jazeera hopes the ICC prosecutor “does actually start the investigation of this case” after the network’s request, Dixon said.

In response to the request, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, “Nobody will interrogate IDF soldiers and nobody will lecture us on combat ethics, definitely not Al Jazeera.”

War Minister Benny Gantz, who is also set to be replaced in the coming weeks, said, “I regret the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, but we need to remember that this was a clear incident of combat that was probed in the most rigorous and in-depth manner, and I advise various bodies, and also Al Jazeera, to go and check what happens to journalists in Iran and in the area where Al Jazeera broadcasts from.

“There is no army that acts with a work ethic like the IDF’s and I want to emphasize my full backing, and that of the entire security establishment, for the commanders and soldiers who are acting to defend the citizens of Israel,” Gantz added.

Outgoing Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman called to have Al Jazeera’s Israeli press credentials revoked after it filed the complaint.

“It is completely unacceptable for Al Jazeera to sue Israel and lecture us on morality,” said Liberman, head of the Yisrael Beytenu party. “It’s not logical that this body has the right to broadcast from Israel. I call on the Government Press Office to revoke the press cards of all Al Jazeera reporters in Israeli territory.”

Itamar Ben Gvir, the extremist Otzma Yehudit party leader who is set to become police minister in the upcoming government, called for Al Jazeera to be expelled from ‘Israel’.

“Al Jazeera not only covers [events] in an antisemitic way, distorts the truth and publishes lies — it also acts against the State of Israel around the world,” he claimed in a statement. “This propaganda network should be expelled from the country and not given the opportunity to continue its anti-Israel series of lies.”

Al Jazeera’s request complements the complaint submitted to the ICC by Abu Akleh’s family in September, supported by the Palestinian Press Syndicate and the International Federation of Journalists.

A new documentary by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines shows how Abu Akleh and other journalists, wearing protective helmets and bulletproof vests clearly marked with the word “PRESS”, were walking down a road in view of Israeli forces when they came under fire.

Abu Akleh was shot in the head as she tried to shield herself by a carob tree. Al Jazeera producer Ali al-Samoudi was also shot in the shoulder.

The new evidence submitted by Al Jazeera shows “Shireen and her colleagues were directly fired at by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)”, Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement added the evidence overturns claims by Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed in crossfire and it “confirms, without any doubt, that there was no firing in the area where Shireen was, other than the IOF shooting directly at her”.

“The evidence shows that this deliberate killing was part of a wider campaign to target and silence Al Jazeera,” the statement said.

Once the ICC has reviewed the evidence it will decide whether it will probe Abu Akleh’s killing as part of ongoing investigations.

Investigations carried out by the United Nations, Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, and international news outlets concluded that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli soldier.