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Israeli Forces Deliberately Killed Palestinian-American Journalist, Report Shows

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  • Israeli Forces Deliberately Killed Palestinian-American Journalist, Report Shows

    Interesting that this hasn't received much attention, not when it happened and not much now. I bet Israel is overjoyed at Russia's war and its war crimes overshadowing its own apartheid malpractices and war crimes this year.

    https://theintercept.com/2022/09/20/...illing-israel/

    alestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces in May while reporting from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, was deliberately and repeatedly targeted, along with her colleagues, despite being clearly identified as a member of the press, a new report released Tuesday concludes.

    The report, a collaboration between Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the U.K.-based research agency Forensic Architecture, confirms the findings of half a dozen earlier independent reviews of the incident, including by the United Nations, which have found that Israeli forces were responsible for Abu Akleh’s killing, with the U.N. noting that the bullet that killed her was “well aimed.” But the new report, which includes a detailed digital reconstruction of the incident based on previously unseen footage recorded by Al Jazeera staff at the scene, in addition to witness testimony, open-source video, and a drone survey of the area, offers the most conclusive account yet of what transpired that day.


    The report directly contradicts the final conclusions of a review by Israeli authorities issued earlier this month, in which officials conceded there was a “high possibility” that Abu Akleh was “accidentally hit by [Israel Defense Forces] gunfire.” In that report, Israeli officials claimed that the IDF soldiers were firing toward “suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen, during an exchange of fire in which life-risking, widespread and indiscriminate shots were fired toward IDF soldiers.”
    But the new reconstruction clearly shows that there were neither armed gunmen nor shots fired in the minutes leading up to Abu Akleh’s killing. Instead, the reconstruction shows that Abu Akleh’s and her colleagues’ “PRESS” insignia was clearly visible from the position of the IDF shooter; that the shooter had a “clear line of fire,” indicating “precise aim”; and that the firing continued as the journalists sought shelter. After Abu Akleh was hit, a civilian attempting to provide aid to her was fired upon each time he tried to approach her.

    Screen-Shot-2022-09-20-at-10.20.57-AM-copy.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90.jpg
    A simulated view shows a recreation of an IDF sniper’s riflescope having a clear view of the Al Jazeera journalists, wearing blue press vests and facing forward, in the moments before journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was targeted and fatally shot



    “This is literally the last nail in the coffin of what the army is arguing,” the Forensic Architecture researcher in charge of the investigation, who asked not to be named because of fear for their safety when working in the region, told The Intercept.
    “We can prove conclusively that there was no one — zero persons — in between the occupation forces and Shireen,” they added. “There were no bullets, in sound or visually, so it’s not that the army was responding to anything. We can also show using visibility analysis that we’ve done in our model, that the shooting only happened when they were within the visible range of the army, which means that it was fully intentional.”

    The IDF did not immediately respond to questions about how the new evidence contradicts its claims. Al Jazeera did not respond to a request for comment, including questions about the footage it had not previously made public, which shows the last moment in which Abu Akleh was alive. The network is considering legal action in the case.



    The new report was presented at a press conference in The Hague, the seat of the International Criminal Court. On Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, and International Center of Justice for Palestinians filed a complaint with the court on behalf of Abu Akleh’s family and journalist Ali Al Samoudi, who was also shot during the same incident. In April, the groups had submitted another request for the court to launch an investigation into the systematic targeting, maiming, and killing of journalists in Palestine. Abu Akleh’s killing came just days after the ICC acknowledged receipt of that complaint.


    “Israel’s failure to carry out an effective investigation into the killing of Shireen amounts to a shielding of perpetrators and highlights the need for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to expedite the investigation in the Situation in Palestine,” Susan Power, Al-Haq’s head of legal research and advocacy, said in a statement, referring to an investigation the court opened last year. Al-Haq is one of six Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations that Israel has targeted over the last year, after baselessly designating them “terrorist organizations.” In August, Israeli forces forcibly broke into and vandalized several offices, including Al-Haq’s. An investigation of the raid was published by Forensic Architecture earlier this month.

    Members of Abu Akleh’s family also traveled to The Hague on Tuesday to submit the complaint. “The evidence is overwhelming. It’s been over four months since Shireen was killed. Our family shouldn’t have to wait another day for justice,” they wrote in a statement. “It’s obvious that Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes. The US still has an obligation to investigate and take meaningful action for one of their own citizens. But when an individual state fails to protect its own citizens, it’s the responsibility of the international community to protect them instead.”


    Since day one, Abu Akleh’s family, along with a number of U.S. legislators, have called on the U.S. government to conduct its own independent investigation of the killing. Some members of Congress are seeking to force the U.S. government to investigate the incident by introducing legislation requiring the State Department and FBI to do so. But so far, U.S. officials have merely reviewed the findings of Israeli and Palestinian investigators, failing to reach a “definitive conclusion.”

    While Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called for an “independent, credible investigation” following Abu Akleh’s killing, there is no indication that the department has done anything to secure one. In a scathing statement last week, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., criticized the administration for its failure to do more about the killing of a U.S. citizen.

    “No one can credibly think that the [Palestinian Authority], which does not have access to the IDF soldier who likely fired the bullet that killed Ms. Abu Akleh or to other IDF personnel who may have information about it, or Israel which has a history of investigations of shootings by IDF soldiers that rarely result in accountability, can be completely relied on to determine and make public all the facts of what happened in this case,” Leahy said in a statement. “There is an increasing foreboding that, as in so many other cases and like the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, there will never be the independent, credible investigation and accountability that Ms. Abu Akleh’s family, the Secretary of State, I, and others have called for.”



  • #2
    I don't know anything about this story beyond what is presented here, but I will simply note that simulations and reconstructions are not evidence, they are simply one interpretation of the evidence.

    I'm also wary of these continued calls for the US to be the police force of the world. We have enough of our own problems to deal with.
    Last edited by Mountain Man; 09-26-2022, 09:25 PM.
    Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
    But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
    Than a fool in the eyes of God


    From "Fools Gold" by Petra

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Gondwanaland View Post
      Interesting that this hasn't received much attention, not when it happened and not much now. I bet Israel is overjoyed at Russia's war and its war crimes overshadowing its own apartheid malpractices and war crimes this year.

      https://theintercept.com/2022/09/20/...illing-israel/
      The IDF does have a rather unfortunate reputation for this sort of behaviour.

      According to one report from July Israel said it would test the bullet. Did it?
      "It ain't necessarily so
      The things that you're liable
      To read in the Bible
      It ain't necessarily so
      ."

      Sportin' Life
      Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

        The IDF does have a rather unfortunate reputation for this sort of behaviour.

        According to one report from July Israel said it would test the bullet. Did it?
        And the PA doesn't?
        Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

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        • #5
          From here in July.

          https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/s...rensic-experts

          Israeli authorities said on Sunday that they would test a bullet that killed prominent Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, despite Palestinian claims they were assured Israel would not take part in testing.

          The Palestinian Authority on Saturday handed the bullet that killed Abu Akleh to US authorities for forensic examination.

          Abu Akleh was killed on 11 May while covering an Israeli military raid in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Her death sparked Palestinian outrage and widespread international condemnation.

          "The relevant parties in the state of Palestine agreed to allow the US side to conduct ballistic works on the bullet. It was handed over to them," Akram al-Khatib, general prosecutor for the Palestinian Authority, said in a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

          Khatib said that the bullet was given to US experts "for technical work".

          "We got guarantees from the American coordinator that the examination will be conducted by them and that the Israeli side will not take part," he told Voice of Palestine radio.
          However, Israel said that it would carry out the examination, with US observers present for the procedure.

          "The [ballistic] test will not be American. The test will be an Israeli test, with an American presence throughout," said Israeli military spokesman Brigadier-General Ran Kochav.

          "In the coming days or hours it will become clear whether it was even us who killed her, accidentally, or whether it was the Palestinian gunmen," he told Israel's Army Radio. "If we killed her, we will take responsibility and feel regret for what happened."

          A US embassy spokesperson said: "We don't have anything new at this time."

          Khatib had said the test would take place at the US embassy in occupied Jerusalem, and the bullet would be returned on Sunday.

          But Israel's deputy internal security minister Yoav Segalovitz told Army Radio that ballistic test would take "a few days to conduct" to ensure an "unequivocal assessment" among several experts.

          Segalovitz added that new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid had been involved in "managing the arrival of the bullet".

          Khatib said the Palestinians welcomed the participation of any international bodies to “help us confirm the truth”.

          "We are confident and certain of our investigations and the results we have reached," he said.

          Investigations by the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, as well as several journalistic probes, found that the shot that killed Abu Akleh was fired by Israeli forces.

          "We find that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces," UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

          "It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation," she said.

          The UN rights office inspected photo, video and audio material, visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses.

          The probe examined submissions from the Israeli army and the Palestinian attorney general.

          But the Israeli army branded the UN's findings unfounded, insisting it was "not possible" to determine how Abu Akleh was killed.

          "The IDF (Israel Defence Force) investigation clearly concludes that Ms Abu Akleh was not intentionally shot by an IDF soldier and that it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately... or inadvertently by an IDF soldier," the military said

          The official Palestinian investigation found that the Qatar-based television channel's star reporter was killed after being hit by a bullet just below her helmet.

          It found that Abu Akleh was killed with a 5.56 millimetre armour-piercing round fired from a Ruger Mini-14 rifle.

          US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised last month to pursue accountability over the killing of Abu Akleh wherever the facts might be.

          "We are looking for an independent, credible investigation. When that investigation happens, we will follow the facts, wherever they lead. It's as straightforward as that," said Blinken.

          On Saturday, the Israeli military, prime minister's office and defence ministry did not immediately comment when asked whether it would cooperate with the US investigation and, if so, how.

          Defence Minister Benny Gantz said in May that Israel was "prepared to conduct an investigation in collaboration with international actors".

          But it says it cannot determine whether she was shot accidentally by an Israeli soldier or by a Palestinian militant during an exchange of fire without examining the bullet to see if it matches an Israeli military rifle.

          US President Joe Biden is expected to meet separately with Palestinian and Israeli leaders during a visit to the region between 13-16 July.

          Video footage showed that Abu Akleh, 51, was wearing a blue vest clearly marked "Press" when she was shot.

          At least two colleagues who were with her said they had come under Israeli sniper fire without being near any militants..



          "It ain't necessarily so
          The things that you're liable
          To read in the Bible
          It ain't necessarily so
          ."

          Sportin' Life
          Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by seer View Post

            And the PA doesn't?
            Nice little red herring there!
            "It ain't necessarily so
            The things that you're liable
            To read in the Bible
            It ain't necessarily so
            ."

            Sportin' Life
            Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Gondwanaland View Post
              Interesting that this hasn't received much attention, not when it happened and not much now. I bet Israel is overjoyed at Russia's war and its war crimes overshadowing its own apartheid malpractices and war crimes this year.

              https://theintercept.com/2022/09/20/...illing-israel/
              If this is verified then Israel has a problem. But it is there's to deal with, not ours.

              I'm always still in trouble again

              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                If this is verified then Israel has a problem. But it is there's to deal with, not ours.
                No, it is ours, because it was one of our citizens - an a journalist at that - who was murdered. Very much our problem given that we should be there in the ICC charging them, not to mention it was probably our money that bought them both the gun and the bullet used to kill our own citizen in this war crime.

                No,rogue, you don't get to shrug it off like that.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

                  The IDF does have a rather unfortunate reputation for this sort of behaviour.
                  On the other hand, the PA has a rather unfortunate reputation for deliberately placing people in harm's way and faking evidence. The British group, assuming it was fed accurate evidence, is presumably reliable.
                  Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

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                  I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                    On the other hand, the PA has a rather unfortunate reputation for deliberately placing people in harm's way and faking evidence. .
                    Isn't that what some here might refer to as "whataboutism" [the contention that the other side is as guilty if not worse of certain behaviours/offences]?

                    Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                    The British group, assuming it was fed accurate evidence, is presumably reliable.
                    Is that a suggestion that MiddleEastEye has been duped? Or a recognition that its reporting is reliably informed?
                    "It ain't necessarily so
                    The things that you're liable
                    To read in the Bible
                    It ain't necessarily so
                    ."

                    Sportin' Life
                    Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

                      Nice little red herring there!
                      Nope, fact...

                      Despite repeated assurances to amend it, the Palestinian National Charter remains unchanged – calling for Israel’s elimination by any military means

                      Fatah’s Sixth General Conference (2009) leaves its PLO Charter unchanged since 1968

                      https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-188599/
                      Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by seer View Post

                        Nope, fact...
                        None of which has anything to do with a Palestinian American journalist being shot [apparently] by a member of the IDF.
                        "It ain't necessarily so
                        The things that you're liable
                        To read in the Bible
                        It ain't necessarily so
                        ."

                        Sportin' Life
                        Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                          On the other hand, the PA has a rather unfortunate reputation for deliberately placing people in harm's way and faking evidence. The British group, assuming it was fed accurate evidence, is presumably reliable.
                          On the other other hand, this was an extensive analysis based on literal continuous video and photographs, of a war crime perpetrated on journalists wearing clearly visible press markings.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

                            None of which has anything to do with a Palestinian American journalist being shot [apparently] by a member of the IDF.
                            Well yes and no, Israel is fighting for its very existence, the PA wants to destroy them. Why did Israel decide to raid the Jenin refugee camp in the first place? Do you even know?

                            The raid began at around 9:30am local time when Israeli special forces entered the camp and headed to the family home of Raad Hazem, a 28-year-old who carried out a shooting at a bar in Tel Aviv on Thursday, killing three Israelis.
                            If that had not happened, the IDF forces would have not been in Jenin. Take your anti Semitism else were... Obviously you hate Jews, not unusual given your nationality...
                            Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by seer View Post

                              Nope, fact...
                              Off topic whataboutism.

                              Comment

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