(OTTAWA) Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly on Monday condemned the actions of Israeli police, who pushed and beat those present at the funeral of an Al Jazeera journalist killed while working in the West Bank.
Posted at 8:30 p.m.
Mme Joly said the actions of the Israeli police, including some cavalry members, towards the family and friends of Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian-American journalist, were unacceptable.
Photo by JOHN THYS, Agence France-Presse
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly
She added that light must be shed on the murder of the journalist, who was shot while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin, in the West Bank, last week.
Witnesses reported that the journalist was killed by a bullet from the Israeli army, which replied that the point of origin of the bullet is not yet known with certainty.
Videos captured at the funeral show that police charged with their batons towards the crowd and the pallbearers. At one point, the coffin was nearly dropped.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Israel Police said its commissioner had opened an investigation into the officers’ work at the funeral. According to the police, rioters tried to sabotage the procession and injure officers.
NDP Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Heather McPherson said the Israeli police’s conduct at the funeral was abhorrent and called for an independent international investigation into the journalist’s death.