Tlaib urges Biden to identify Israeli soldiers involved in Abu Akleh’s killing

Washington (QNN)- US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called on President Joe Biden to obtain the names of Israeli occupation soldiers involved in the operation in which Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead.
In a statement issued on July 8, Tlaib slammed the State Department’s examination of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, saying “this much is clear – the State Department has comprehensively failed to carry out its mission as it relates to the murders of an American citizen.”
Tlaib added, “This failure sends a clear message to the world: some American lives are worth more than others, and some “allies” have license to kill with impunity.”
“When an American citizen is murdered abroad, it is typically standard procedure for the U.S. to open a criminal investigation.”
But in this case, Talib said, “State Department and the Biden Administration have yet to launch an independent U.S. investigation, led by the FBI, into Shireen’s murder, as was demanded by more than 80 Members of Congress in separate letters to the Biden Administration. Instead, they admit that Shireen was likely killed by Israeli forces, but extend the benefit of the doubt to a government that has earned none.”
The same day Abu Akleh was killed, Israeli military spokesperson Ran Kochav described the group of unarmed journalists with her as “armed Palestinians.”
In response, Tlaib said, “They’re armed with cameras, if you’ll permit me to say so.” Not only is this objectively a lie, it also clearly demonstrates what millions of everyday Palestinians already know.”
“In the eyes of the Israeli occupation forces a camera is just as dangerous as a gun, because cameras expose the uncut, brutal reality of their apartheid regime and its racist oppression.”
“When most people on this planet witness how the Israeli government treats Palestinians, they know in their heart of hearts that it is wrong.”
Tlaib added that to the “Israeli apartheid regime, there is no difference between a camera and a gun, and all Palestinians are targets.”
Tlaib, the first Palestinian Progressive Democrat who was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrant parents, said the State Department’s failure is “unacceptable and devastating.”
For that reason, the Congresswoman noted that she is a cosponsor to Congressman André Carson’s National Defense Authorization Act amendment requesting a U.S. State Department and FBI led investigation.
The proposed congressional measure was spearheaded by Carson, and submitted on July 5 as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that authorizes Pentagon spending and helps set US military policy.
“The killing of Al Jazeera reporter and fellow American, Shireen Abu Akleh, was not only a tragedy; it was an affront to press freedom and to all Americans. We need answers and accountability from the Israeli government,” Carson, a frequent supporter of Palestinian human rights in Congress told the Jewish Currents in a statement.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, and Betty McCollum are among the 11 Democrats who introduced the above-mentioned legislation.
“A criminal investigation free from political considerations or influence from foreign governments into the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh, and any American killed overseas no matter the alleged perpetrator, is the most basic duty that our government owes its citizen,” Tlaib concluded its statement.
“However, it is also clear that the entire State Department response to this killing must be investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the State Department, and the results of that investigation must be released to the public.”
“Failures like this that put American lives at risk cannot be allowed to repeat themselves.”
“Lastly, during his upcoming meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, President Biden must obtain the names of the soldiers responsible for killing Shireen, along with that of their commanding officer, so that these individuals can be fully prosecuted for their crimes by the Department of Justice.”
Biden is expected to visit ‘Israel’, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia between July 13-16.
Despite wearing a protective helmet
and blue bulletproof vest clearly marked as “PRESS,” the 51-year-old 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. The slain journalist covered events and Israeli aggressions in the occupied Palestinian territory for 25 years.
Multiple witnesses said that Israeli forces killed the veteran journalist. Reports by the investigative group Bellingcat, The Associated Press, CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times have also come to the same conclusion.
On June 24, the UN’s OHCHR also announced that information it had gathered showed that the bullets that killed Abu Akleh were fired by Israeli forces.
Spokesperson for the UN’s OHCHR, Ravina Shamdasani, told reporters in Geneva, “All information we have gathered is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians.”
The CNN investigation in May said evidence suggests that the veteran journalist was killed in a “targeted attack by Israeli forces”.
A probe by the Palestinian Authority found that Abu Akleh was deliberately shot by Israeli forces.