Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Monday added their names to a bipartisan letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling on the Biden administration to “ensure a full and transparent investigation is completed and that justice is served” in the investigation of the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The Palestinian Authority has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, blaming Israel for Abu Akleh’s death, while refusing to conduct an investigation together with Israeli forensic experts, and refusing to produce the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, because the Ramallah folks don’t trust Israel to conduct an impartial investigation.
On May 19, 57 House Democrats wrote Secretary Blinken and FBI Director Christopher Wray, demanding an investigation into Abu Akleh’s death. It was blatantly one-sided, practically taking it for granted that Israel was to blame for the journalist’s death. “The Israeli military claimed that the victims were caught between gunfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli Defense Forces, however, media and eyewitnesses had conflicting reports,” the letter said.
By conflicting media and eyewitness reports, the 57 Democrats were referring to a scandalously one-sided CNN interview with a Palestinian reporter who made some impossible allegations, suggesting the IDF was in the business of targeting and killing journalists. She was unable to explain how come she survived that IDF alleged manhunt despite her being visible for long minutes as she hovered over Abu Akleh’s body.
Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog said the Democrats’ letter “does not offer a fair representation of the case, ignores the important context of the events leading to Ms. Abu Akleh’s tragic death and reaches the wrong conclusion. … The letter ignores the fact that Israel has, from the outset, called for an impartial joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation with the US in an observer role. Our call was flatly rejected by the PA.”
The Senators’ letter, signed by 15 Democrats and 12 Republicans, is far more levelheaded and fairer, telling Blinken: “We urge you to ask the Palestinian Authority to provide access to the forensic evidence in Abu Akleh’s death for an independent investigation so that all parties can reach a definitive conclusion about the events leading to her death, and hold all parties accountable.”
A NY Times June 3 editorial (Who Killed Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh?) concluded with two sober notes:
“According to a database maintained by the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, 511 journalists were killed from 1992 to 2022 in crossfire or on dangerous assignments, 347 of them in wars. Journalists are dying in Ukraine, some presumably killed deliberately. … The Palestinian Authority, Israel, and the United States would do well to agree on an independent investigator to determine who shot Ms. Abu Akleh and establish whether she was a target because of her work as a journalist.”
