Family of Al Jazeera Journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, Criticizes US Probe
The family of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist, expressed their “incredulity” on Monday after the US reported it was impossible to determine which pistol fired the fatal gunshot.
The prominent Palestinian-American reporter’s family expressed their disapproval after Israel claimed that its experts, not American ones, looked at the bullet that killed Abu Akleh on May 11.
“With respect to today’s announcement by the State Department — on July 4, no less — that a test of the spent round that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, an American citizen, was inconclusive as to the origin of the gun that fired it, we are incredulous,” the Abu Akleh family said in a statement.
The journalist, a citizen of the United States, died while reporting on an Israeli military operation in the Jenin camp, which is located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Despite efforts to deny the truth of what transpired on May 11, the statement continued, “We will continue to campaign for justice for Shireen and to hold the Israeli military and government accountable.
On Saturday, representatives of the US received the bullet that had been removed from Abu Akleh from the Palestinian Authority.
They claimed that only Americans—not Israelis—could study it.
But after the US investigation was made public, the Israeli army declared: “A ballistic examination was carried out in an Israeli forensic laboratory.
According to the army statement, US “representatives were present throughout the entire procedure.”
The seasoned reporter was most certainly murdered by Israeli gunfire, according to the United States, although there was no evidence that her death was premeditated.
When Abu Akleh was shot in the head, she was donning a helmet and a vest with the word “Press” on it.
According to the State Department, the US was still unable to reach a “definitive determination” regarding the source of the gunshot that killed her.
A prominent PA official denounced efforts to “conceal the facts” regarding the murder of Abu Akleh.
“We will continue our procedures at the international courts. We will not allow attempts to conceal the truth or to have shy references in pointing the finger of accusation (at) Israel,” Hussein al-Sheikh wrote on Twitter.
Reacting to the US findings, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said “it is not possible to determine the source of the shooting –- and as such, the investigation will continue.”
