Israel is refusing to launch a criminal investigation into the killing of the US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, The Guardian reports.
Palestinian officials and witnesses said Israeli soldiers shot the renowned international journalist. When she was killed, Israel said it would investigate the killing.
But now, the Israel Defense Forces claim that an immediate criminal investigation will not be launched, and cited her being killed in an “active combat situation” as the reason. An “operational inquiry” will supposedly continue. This is a departure from the majority of other recent IDF shootings of civilians in the occupied West Bank, which have been followed by investigations.
The Israeli military police branch reportedly has accepted the assurances of Israeli troops that they were not aware she was in the village next to the Jenin refugee camp, despite her wearing a bright blue ‘PRESS’ flack jacket as is standard for the press in war zones. She was killed during an arrest raid that has become quite frequent by Israeli commando units on Palestinians there.
The UN Security Council and the United States have called for a transparent investigation.
Abu Aqleh was extremely well known across the region, making her a household name and quite a famous journalist. She was known for documenting the hardship of Palestinian life under Israeli rule for TV news on Al Jazeera.
There was immediate international outrage after news broke she was killed, and even prompted criticism from the White House.
The Israeli military had previously said it could not unequivocally determine the source of the bullet that killed Abu Aqleh, and speculated it could have come from a Palestinian militant or an Israeli soldier with a “telescopic scope”.
Palestinian officials have the bullet. They have refused to hand it over to the Israelis but said they would welcome international investigations.
At her funeral today, police beat mourners who carried her casket, prompting even more criticism and outrage at Israeli authorities.
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