[News] New investigation: Israel "intended to kill" Shireen Abu Akleh

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-intended-kill-shireen-abu-akleh-probe>
Israel "intended to kill" Shireen Abu Akleh -- probe

Maureen Clare Murphy
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> - 21 September
2022
------------------------------

Video - https://youtu.be/BXjVDKILC3s

An Israeli military sharpshooter intentionally shot and killed Al Jazeera
correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh and injured her colleague while they were
clearly identifiable as journalists, according to a new investigation
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXjVDKILC3s>.

The findings of the investigation, which includes previously unseen Al
Jazeera footage, were published by the UK-based research group Forensic
Architecture and Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq on Tuesday.
Abu Akleh’s family submitted a complaint to the International Criminal
Court over her death that same day.

Forensic Architecture and Al-Haq’s decisive conclusions contradict Israel’s
claim, echoed by the Biden administration in Washington, that Abu Akleh was
not killed intentionally. Last week the US State Department spokesperson
Ned Price told reporters
<https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-september-13-2022/#post-376477-IsraelPalestinianAffairs>
that Abu Akleh’s death was “the tragic result of a gunfight in the context
of an Israeli raid in the West Bank.”

“Shireen and her colleagues were explicitly targeted, despite being
identifiable as members of the press,” according to the investigation.

Abu Akleh, 51, was among a group of journalists covering an Israeli raid in
Jenin in the northern West Bank in the early morning of 11 May.

A spatial analysis undertaken as part of the investigation shows that the
journalists, who wore helmets and vests identifying them as press, were
fully identifiable as such from the vantage point of a convoy of Israeli
armored vehicles some 200 meters away.

As the group slowly approached the Israeli position, and without prior
warning, “the first burst of six bullets was fired at the journalists
through a sniper hole in the front military vehicle,” according to
<https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/2022/09/20/legal-brief-on-the-extrajudicial-killing-of-shireen-abu-aqleh-1663659678.pdf>
Al-Haq.

“Journalist Ali Samoudi, who was leading the way, turned around and
screamed ‘bullets being fired’ and started running back when he was struck
by one of the bullets in his left shoulder,” the rights group added.

Moments later, a second burst of seven shots was fired at the journalists,
hitting Abu Akleh in the head as she attempted to take cover by standing
against a wall.

A third round of fire came from the Israeli position two minutes later, as
a civilian named Sharif Azab attempted to come to Abu Akleh’s aid.

#4. Our video, audio, and spatial analysis ALL confirm that while
attempting to provide aid to Shireen, a civilian on scene was shot at each
time he attempted to reach her & entered the line of sight/fire of the
shooter. Shireen was thus deliberately denied medical attention. 8/9
pic.twitter.com/EDk3Ju51Kw <https://t.co/EDk3Ju51Kw>
— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) September 20, 2022
<https://twitter.com/ForensicArchi/status/1572366612652589057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

“Intended to kill”

Forensic Architecture and Al-Haq “undertook an extensive drone survey to
reconstruct a precise 3D photogrammetry scan of the scene.” They also
located all cameras that captured footage of the shooting within the model
and “located the precise positions of the journalists at important points
throughout the incident.”

The investigators also “identified and reconstructed the precise position
of the Israeli forces” and “identified the armored vehicle from which
Shireen was shot” by a marksman using an optical scope mounted on an
assault rifle.

Researchers “simulated how Shireen and the other journalists would appear
from the marksman’s position 190 meters away.” The model shows that “the
journalists’ press vests would have been clearly visible.”

“The journalists were clearly identifiable as such,” researchers found. Abu
Akleh was shot with “her press vest in full view” of the sharpshooter.

“The proximity of the shots,” including four that hit a tree shielding some
of Abu Akleh’s colleagues, “confirms a professional marksman repeatedly and
explicitly targeted the journalists.”

All of the shots “were aimed above the shoulders and intended to kill,”
according to the investigation.

Footage analyzed by investigators shows that no other persons were between
the journalists and the convoy of Israeli armored vehicles and there were
no armed persons near Abu Akleh and her colleagues.

Sound analysis confirms that the only shot fired in the three minutes
before the shooting of Abu Akleh came from the Israeli position.

“No other shots in any of the footage analyzed came from the vicinity of
the journalists,” investigators found. “The slow movement of the
journalists” towards the Israeli position before the latter opened fire
“supports the assessment that there were no other fighters nor was there
any crossfire at the time of the incident.”

The investigation is the most thorough yet after several independent probes
similarly found that Abu Akleh was more than likely killed by an Israeli
soldier, with CNN indicating that she was deliberately targeted.

Al-Haq states that the shooting of Abu Akleh amounts to an extrajudicial
and willful killing, “a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a
war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,
giving rise to individual criminal responsibility.”

Israel determined ahead of the conclusion of its military’s
self-investigation that no soldier would face criminal charges for Abu
Akleh’s death.

The family of Abu Akleh, who was a US citizen, has pressed
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/omar-karmi/abu-akleh-family-demands-us-holds-israel-accountable>
Washington to open an investigation into the journalist’s killing.

The Biden administration insists on deferring to the Israeli military’s
self-investigation mechanisms, long discredited by human rights advocates
as whitewashing operations aimed at deflecting international scrutiny
rather than securing justice for Palestinian victims.

Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson, said last week
<https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-september-13-2022/#post-376477-IsraelPalestinianAffairs>
that “we’ve always been very clear that we’re not looking for criminal
accountability” in Abu Akleh’s case.

The US has pressed Israel
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/us-fingerprints-israeli-crimes>
on reviewing its rules of engagement, only to be rebuffed by Tel Aviv, with
Prime Minister Yair Lapid insisting that “no one will dictate open fire
regulations to us when we are fighting for our lives.”
EU drops call for independent investigation

Like the US, the European Union is apparently satisfied with Israel’s
superficial self-investigation into Abu Akleh’s death.

“EU countries are planning to drop calls for an ‘independent’ inquiry into
the shocking killing” of the journalist during a meeting with Lapid next
month, *EUobserver* reported <https://euobserver.com/world/156095> on
Monday.

Some EU states have blocked the EU from calling for “independent”
investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh at the upcoming
EU-Israel Association Council.

This is betrayal of all EU rhetoric about protection of journalists
worldwide and support for accountability. https://t.co/DzGQASNeyZ
— Martin Konečný (@MartinKonecny) September 20, 2022
<https://twitter.com/MartinKonecny/status/1572191539912413185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The EU foreign service had proposed to say in a declaration accompanying
the high-level EU-Israel Association Council meeting that the body
“reiterates its call for a thorough and independent investigation that
clarifies all the circumstances of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death, and that
brings those responsible for her killing to justice.”

Instead, it now plans on delivering a watered down version in which “the EU
reiterates its call for a thorough investigation … and that those
responsible are brought to justice.”

Today my family is at the International Criminal Court to submit a formal
complaint, calling on the international community to investigate Israel's
killing of my aunt Shireen Abu Akleh, and deliver accountability and
justice where others have failed. Our family statement below 👇
pic.twitter.com/uMWRCLR49d <https://t.co/uMWRCLR49d>
— Lina Abu Akleh (@LinaAbuAkleh) September 20, 2022
<https://twitter.com/LinaAbuAkleh/status/1572151269321498625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

This investigation by FA and @alhaq_org
<https://twitter.com/alhaq_org?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> is the first to employ
a precise digital reconstruction of the incident. Our findings will be an
addendum to a complaint to the @IntlCrimCourt
<https://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> submitted by
Shireen's family and colleagues this morning (20 September) at the Hague.
9/9 pic.twitter.com/tSr0Hxtoqk <https://t.co/tSr0Hxtoqk>
— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) September 20, 2022
<https://twitter.com/ForensicArchi/status/1572366623238938626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

On Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists, International
Center of Justice for Palestinians and Palestinian Journalists
Syndicate delivered
a new complaint <https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/20613.html> to the
International Criminal Court on behalf of Abu Akleh’s family and her
producer Ali Samoudi, who was moderately injured.

Lawmakers in Washington continue to press the Biden administration to
launch an independent probe, with senior Democratic senators introducing an
amendment including “unprecedented language calling on the US to see
‘whether section 620M of the [Foreign Assistance Act] applies’ to Abu
Akleh’s case within 180 days,” as the Tel Aviv daily *Haaretz* reported
<https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-09-18/ty-article/.premium/israeli-investigation-of-shiren-abu-aklehs-death-fails-to-convince-key-u-s-lawmakers/00000183-4fd2-d5f6-afc7-cfd7e0250000>
.

The amendment refers to the 1997 Leahy Law
<https://www.leahy.senate.gov/issues/human-rights> that prohibits the US
from providing military assistance to units of foreign militaries when
there is credible information that those units violated human rights with
impunity.

However, as *Haaretz* notes, it is not clear “how the Leahy Law would
operate in practice given how foreign military financing to Israel is
legally stipulated” by US Congress at a floor of $3.8 billion per year.

Senator Chris Murphy, who cosponsored the amendment, told MSNBC news
personality Mehdi Hassan that while he doesn’t currently support the
conditioning of US aid to Israel, “all of us are watching the behavior of
the Israeli government very carefully.”
Israel kills with impunity

Abu Akleh’s case is an exception to the nearly blanket impunity with which
Israel kills Palestinians.

Around 90 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli
soldiers and settlers so far this year. It is the deadliest year
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-09-14/ty-article/.premium/two-palestinians-shot-in-clash-with-israeli-army-in-west-bank/00000183-3a2d-dfd0-a5f7-3eafd9cd0000>
in the territory since 2015, when around 100 Palestinians were fatally
injured.

Around a third of those fatalities this year were in the Jenin area, which
has been subjected to daily raids like the one in which Abu Akleh was
killed after a wave of attacks in Israel beginning in late March.

Dozens more Palestinians were killed during Israel’s nearly three-day
unprovoked bombardment of Gaza last month.

Only a handful of Israeli soldiers have faced criminal charges over the
death of a Palestinian in recent years.

In one of those rare examples, Border Police officer Ben Dery was sentenced
to nine months
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/killer-palestinian-teen-praised-excellent-israeli-judge>
in prison in 2018, four years after shooting and killing Nadim Siam Nuwara,
17.

Dery was initially charged with manslaughter but ultimately convicted of a
lesser crime of “negligence and causing severe bodily harm” after taking a
plea deal.

Like in the case of Abu Akleh, Forensic Architecture was tapped by Defense
for Children International-Palestine to conduct a spatial and video analysis
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-analysis-pinpoints-israeli-killer-palestinian-teen>
to determine the soldier who shot and killed the teen.

And like Al-Haq, Forensic Architecture’s partner in the investigation of
Abu Akleh’s killing, Defense for Children International-Palestine was
designated as a “terrorist group” by the Israeli government late last year,
along with four other prominent Palestinian nongovernmental organizations.

Israeli forces raided and sealed
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-army-shuts-down-prominent-palestinian-rights-groups>
the offices of those organizations in the area of Ramallah, the seat of the
Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, during August.

Last week, Forensic Architecture and Al-Haq published an analysis
<https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-raid-on-al-haqs-offices-18-august-2022>
of CCTV and other footage available showing the raid on the latter’s
office, which included breaking into an Episcopal church located on the
floor below.

The footage shows that during the raid, which lasted more than an hour,
soldiers rummaged through files, broke into the IT and server room and the
office of Shawan Jabarin, Al-Haq’s general director, and other departmental
offices.

Soldiers are also shown in the footage socializing and taking trophy photos
and posing for selfies.

“With knowledge of the CCTV cameras, these actions deliver a message of
humiliation and dominance over the premises,” Forensic Architecture and
Al-Haq state.

Soldiers cut off power in the building some 40 minutes into the raid,
shutting off the indoor CCTV cameras, before welding a metal plate to the
door and posting a closure order.

Jabarin told media
<https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2022-09-16/ty-article/.premium/new-footage-shows-israels-raid-on-a-palestinian-rights-group/00000183-45cd-dfd0-a5f7-4fcfee390000>
that he suspects that soldiers installed spyware onto Al-Haq’s computers.
Pegasus surveillance software was found on the personal devices of Al-Haq
staff members last year.

Al-Haq staff have been subjected to harassment campaigns including death
threats
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/holland-probes-threats-against-palestinian-groups-lawyer-hague>
over their work pursuing accountability at the International Criminal Court.

Al-Haq and Defense for Children International-Palestine, along with
Addameer, another group proscribed by Israel last year, have provided
evidence to The Hague court’s probe in Palestine, which was launched in
March last year.

With new investigative techniques and technologies it is getting harder and
harder for Israel to hide its abuses against Palestinians. This is a
significant reason why it has sought to outlaw, delegitimise and
criminalise those organisations like @alhaq_org
<https://twitter.com/alhaq_org?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> who deploy them.
https://t.co/bnoNh6GaqD
— Rohan Talbot (@rohantalbot) September 20, 2022
<https://twitter.com/rohantalbot/status/1572246299558256640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The US opposes
<https://www.state.gov/the-united-states-opposes-the-icc-investigation-into-the-palestinian-situation/>
the ICC investigation in Palestine.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated that the Biden
administration does not believe that the ICC is “an appropriate venue” for
an investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing. Yet during the same press
briefing
<https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-may-24-2022/>,
he said the White House welcomed The Hague court’s investigation of war
crimes in Ukraine.

During his visit to Israel and the West Bank in July, Biden pledged
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/biden-helps-israel-get-away-murder>
that Washington would work with Tel Aviv to “combat all efforts to boycott
or de-legitimize Israel, to deny its right to self-defense, or to unfairly
single it out in any forum, including at the United Nations or the
International Criminal Court.”
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