Shireen Abu Akleh's Murder Must Be Investigated By The US

By Majeed Malhas, Jacobin

On May 11, 2022, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) shot and killed veteran Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering a military raid on a refugee camp outside the West Bank city of Jenin. Dressed in labeled “PRESS” jackets and helmets, Abu Akleh’s Al Jazeera colleagues filmed the moments after she was shot, during which the sniper continued firing at other reporters attempting to retrieve her body.

After Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem debunked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s claims that a stray bullet fired by Palestinians struck Abu Akleh, the Israeli government called for a joint probe into the journalist’s murder with the Palestinian Authority (PA), requesting the handover of the bullet and Abu Akleh’s body to conduct an autopsy. The PA has refused, citing the historic lack of transparency and accountability in investigations of other civilian murders and the illegal occupation of the IDF in the Palestinian territories. The PA instead chose to conduct an independent probe.

The PA’s investigation concluded that the bullet matched a weapon regularly used by the IDF, the Ruger Mini-14. Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim reported that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh “was 5.56mm, and it corresponds with Mini Ruger sniper fire weapon.” The Israeli probe has made no progress.