(Washington) The family of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed last May while covering an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, called on Tuesday for an independent investigation during a visit to Washington.
Posted at 1:12 p.m.
The journalist’s relatives, who were in the United States at the invitation of the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken and must also meet elected members of Congress, said in a press release that they were calling on the United States to launch their own “thorough, credible and transparent investigation” into the circumstances of his death.
“For far too long, the United States has allowed Israel to kill with impunity by providing it with weapons, full immunity and diplomatic protection,” Shireen’s brother Tony Abu Akleh, his niece, said in the statement. and his nephew.
“Impunity leads to repetition. We are here to help end this cycle,” they added.
“If we allow Shireen’s murder to be forgotten, we are sending the message that the lives of American citizens overseas don’t matter, that the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation don’t matter. importance, and that the bravest journalists in the world, those who cover the human impact of armed conflict and violence, can be sacrificed,” they stressed.
Star of the pan-Arab channel Al Jazeera, Shireen Abu Akleh was equipped with a bulletproof vest marked “press” and a reporting helmet when she was shot in the head on May 11 in Jenin. No Palestinian fighter was near the reporter, and Israeli soldiers were stationed about 200 meters away.
The UN and various media maintain that the fatal shot came from the weapon of an Israeli soldier, a scenario deemed “likely” by the United States, which assessed the bullet, but nevertheless ruled out the hypothesis of a shot. deliberate.
For the Abu Akleh family, the United States is not doing enough in this case and is trying to protect its ally, Israel.
Relatives of Shireen Abu Akleh had tried unsuccessfully to meet President Joe Biden, who recently visited Israel and the Occupied Territories, before a visit to Saudi Arabia, a country of which the crown prince is accused by the intelligence services American of ordering the murder of another journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
Mr. Blinken then invited them to Washington to discuss the matter with him.
The head of American diplomacy had criticized “the intrusion of the Israeli police” during the funeral of the journalist. Israeli police armed with batons had tried to disperse a crowd waving Palestinian flags. The coffin had almost fallen from the hands of the carriers, but had been caught in extremis.