Acknowledges the “high probability” that an “accidental” shot was fired at the Palestinian reporter, but will not investigate it
Four months later, the IDF admits for the first time that there is a “high probability” that one of its soldiers was the one who “accidentally” shot and killed American-Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, but will not open a criminal investigation. and insists that they are “very proud” of the role of the soldiers. In the words of the report prepared by the military attorney general “after an exhaustive examination of the incident, and based on all the findings, there is no suspicion of a crime that justifies the opening of an investigation by the Military Police.”
This is the closest statement to admitting guilt for what happened on the part of the military, but they continue to keep an issue open that all the organizations that have investigated it are clear about. The 51-year-old ‘Al Jazeera’ journalist was shot dead while covering an operation by the occupation forces in the Jenin refugee camp on May 11. Abu Akleh was perfectly identified as a journalist, with a vest and helmet, but that was not enough.
In June, the United Nations concluded that “the shots that killed Abu Akleh and wounded his colleague Ali Sammoudi came from the Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate shooting by armed Palestinians.” The study of the international organization repeated the same result of the investigations carried out by media such as ‘The Washington Post’ or ‘The New York Times’: all point to the Israeli Army as responsible for the shot in the head that ended Shireen’s life.
A mural remembers the murdered reporter /
The reporter’s family reacted immediately. “It is obvious to anyone that Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes. We remain deeply hurt, frustrated and disappointed,” they said in a statement in which they accused the Jewish state of trying to “hide the truth” in order to “avoid responsibility for the murder.” There will be no criminal investigation and there will be no sanctions against the agents responsible for the excess of violence during the journalist’s funeral in Jerusalem, who charged even those who carried the body on their shoulders.
Change of versions
Israel initially accused Palestinian militias of the shooting and released a video that turned out to be false. Later they talked about a stray bullet and little by little they admitted that it could have been one of their soldiers, but without ever clearly accepting responsibility, a common communication strategy as happened recently in Gaza with a bombardment that ended the life of several minors. The witnesses present at the place of death and the family, however, have maintained the same version of events from the first moment.
The projectile that killed Shireen was of a 5.56 mm caliber, the same one used by the Israeli forces’ M4 rifles. The Palestinians handed over the bullet to the United States to advance the investigation and the Washington report ended with the same words as the Army’s now, assuring that “probably” it was killed by an “unintentional” Israeli shot. The Palestinians accused the Americans of “manipulators” and the head of the Palestinian office of ‘Al Jazeera’, Walid al-Omari, recalled that “the bullet is not the only evidence, there is other evidence, witnesses, the place of the wounds , the remains of the bullets, also the investigations that were carried out. They all condemn Israel in this crime, and the US attempt to prove Israel innocent has failed.”
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