Reminder of the facts
The death of Shireen Abu Akleh, a highly regarded and recognized Al Jazeera journalist, has rocked the Middle East. Equipped with a bulletproof vest clearly marked “press” and a helmet, she had been shot in the head and another journalist had been shot and wounded when they surrendered on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of the Palestinian armed factions where Israeli forces were carrying out a raid that day.
Both the Palestinian Authority and Al-Jazeera, as well as the channel’s funding country, Qatar, immediately accused the Israeli army of killing her. Israel has consistently denied these accusations, saying it is impossible to know the exact origin of the shooting, Israeli or Palestinian, and continues to rule out deliberate shooting in any event.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded on June 24 that the Israeli army was responsible while excluding, like the United States, a deliberate shooting, an investigation nevertheless dismissed as “baseless” by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.