Family of slain Al Jazeera journalist disappointed by US findings

By Mucahit Aydemir

JERUSALEM (AA) - The findings of a US investigation into the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh have left her family into a state of disappointment.

The family said that the findings of the US forensic examination follow the Israeli narrative on the killing of the veteran Palestinian reporter.

Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead on May 11 while covering an Israeli military raid near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

While Palestinian officials and her employer Al Jazeera accused Israel of killing the reporter, Tel Aviv denied any responsibility.

A US forensic analysis last week found that there was no "definitive conclusion" on the origin of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, but concluded that the gunfire from the Israeli position was "likely responsible" for her death.

Disappointed by the US findings, Abu Akleh’s family called for meeting with US President Joe Biden during his upcoming visit to the region. Biden is scheduled to visit Israel and the West Bank this week.

Anadolu Agency spoke to Abu Akleh’s niece, Lina, who is also a journalist, about her expectations from Biden’s visit to the region.

Q- How did you see the US findings into Abu Akleh’s death?

First, it is important to note that what they carried out was not an investigation. It was merely a statement that they released, summarizing previous investigations done by Israel. If it was an investigation, we would have seen a detailed and comprehensive report, just like the one published by the New York Times, the Washington Post and Associated Press.

For us, the statement was a disappointment. While it said that Israeli soldiers likely killed her, we didn’t see any meaningful effort or meaningful action being taken to hold Israel accountable. For Shireen being a US citizen, it was important that they take this issue seriously and carry out a detailed, comprehensive, transparent investigation that is free from any political bias or any political pressure. But on the contrary, the US was adopting the Israeli narrative.

We feel disappointed, we feel neglected. We don’t feel that they fulfilled their duty for justice and for holding Israel accountable.

Q- Have US officials reached out to Abu Akleh’s family following her death?

We received a call from Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken. He offered us his sincere condolences. He said they want to carry out an investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable. And we appreciate efforts of multiple members of Congress, who have been pushing for an investigation and calling for accountability, and we really appreciate all these efforts.

But we still continue to call for a meaningful action to be taken by the US. At the end of the day, Shireen was a US citizen. The US continues to preach about human rights, democracy and press freedom, these values need to be upheld the same way they are applied in other countries. They need to apply these same values to their Palestinian citizens living here. We still continue to call for accountability, we still continue to call on them to fulfil their duty and obligations towards Shireen who was a US citizen.

In terms of providing us with information, and with regard to the statement that they released based on their so-called investigation, unfortunately we were not informed and we didn’t even know about the whole investigation that was taking place.

Q- If US President Joe Biden meets you during his visit, what will you tell or ask him about?

Ahead of President Biden’s visit, we hoped that we would have the opportunity to meet with him to ask him for information regarding the statement they released. The US president should give us that opportunity to sit with us and to hear from us as a grieving family. We want to hear from him and understand what they are planning to do next and how they are planning to carry out an independent and transparent investigation.

Q- What will be the next step for you? How will you continue to push for justice?

For the next steps, we seek to keep calling for justice and accountability and for taking up whatever opportunities we have to knock on every door that we can so we can achieve justice.

Q- Abu Akleh was a prominent journalist and she was from your family. Was her death an example of the systematic violence that the Palestinian people are facing in the occupied territories?

It’s a conflict in which every Palestinian is a target and this has been proven several times by UN reports that clearly showed that Israel is targeting journalists, non-combatants, paramedics and civilians. So, this is part of a wider policy to target journalists and anyone who dares to speak the truth and who dares to uncover the crime of Israel and this is exactly what Shireen has been doing for the past 25 years.

​​​​​​​Q- How do you assess the role of the international community regarding Abu Akleh’s death? What kind of solidarity did you get as a family?

The international media has played a huge role in the impunity that Israel enjoys. It continues to cover up the Israeli crimes. A lot of news outlets continued to use the same terminology of the Israeli narrative regarding Abu Akleh’s death. However, we were very happy and we were very grateful to see other outlets like the Washington Post and the New York times carrying out their investigations that showed how Shireen was actually killed and targeted by Israeli soldiers.