US Senator rejects Israel’s report on Shireen Abu Akleh shooting death
Washington (QNN)- US Senator Chris Van Hollen dismissed on Tuesday an Israeli report that said “there is a high possibility” that an Israeli soldier “accidentally” killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while covering a military raid in May in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
“The crux of the “defense” in this IDF report is that a soldier was “returning fire” from militants, the US Senator tweeted on Tuesday, noting that probes by the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, the Washington Post, and the United Nations found "no such firing at the time".
“This underscores need for independent US inquiry into this American journalist’s death,” he added.
https://twitter.com/chrisvanhollen/status/1566943549924458496?s=46&t=0DmnS6L5hh_Sg-aL0O50SA
On Monday, Israeli occupation authorities released the results of their investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh, after over 100 days of the killing.
“It is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh,” the report said, adding that it remains a “possibility” that she “was hit by bullets fired by armed Palestinian gunmen”.
“After a comprehensive examination of the incident, and based on all the findings, the Military Advocate General found that under the circumstances of the case, there is no suspicion of a criminal offense that justifies the opening of a Military Police investigation,” the report said.
Moreover, in a background briefing for journalists before the release of the report, senior Israeli forces officials said they had met the soldier, and that “if he did it, he did it by mistake”.
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.
On July 4, the Department of State acknowledged that the fatal bullet that struck Abu Akleh likely came from an Israeli forces position, but it framed the killing of the journalist as the unintentional “result of tragic circumstances”. The US administration also said a “detailed forensic analysis” of the bullet concluded that it was too damaged to determine its source.
Following Israel’s report, Abu Akleh’s family denounced on Monday the results, saying ‘Israel’ tried to “obscure the truth and avoid responsibility for killing Shireen Abu Akleh”.
“As expected, Israel has refused to take responsibility for murdering Shireen. Our family is not surprised by this outcome since it’s obvious to anyone the Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes,” the family said in a statement.
“We will continue to demand that the US government follow through with its stated commitments to accountability.”
The Qatar-based TV network of Al Jazeera also slammed on Monday the “findings of this investigation” and stressed that “this elusive admission is nothing but an attempt from the IOF to evade the criminal responsibility for the killing of Shireen, which has been proven by numerous independent and international investigations.”
“The Network demands that an independent international body investigates the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh to achieve justice for her, her family, and fellow journalists around the world.”
