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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-intended-kill-shireen-abu-akleh-probe">electronicintifada.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel "intended to kill" Shireen Abu Akleh -- probe</h1>
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<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-author"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy">Maureen Clare Murphy</a></span> -
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-publication-date"><span class="gmail-date-display-single">21 September 2022</span></span> </p>
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Video - <a href="https://youtu.be/BXjVDKILC3s">https://youtu.be/BXjVDKILC3s</a><br><br>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 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXjVDKILC3s">new investigation</a>.
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-september-13-2022/#post-376477-IsraelPalestinianAffairs">told reporters</a> that Abu Akleh’s death was “the tragic result of a gunfight in the context of an Israeli raid in the West Bank.”</p>
<p>“Shireen and her colleagues were explicitly targeted, despite being
identifiable as members of the press,” according to the investigation.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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,” <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/2022/09/20/legal-brief-on-the-extrajudicial-killing-of-shireen-abu-aqleh-1663659678.pdf">according to</a> Al-Haq.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.
</p><div id="gmail-file-124286">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">#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 <a href="https://t.co/EDk3Ju51Kw">pic.twitter.com/EDk3Ju51Kw</a></p>— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForensicArchi/status/1572366612652589057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<h2>“Intended to kill”</h2>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“The journalists were clearly identifiable as such,” researchers
found. Abu Akleh was shot with “her press vest in full view” of the
sharpshooter.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>All of the shots “were aimed above the shoulders and intended to kill,” according to the investigation.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Sound analysis confirms that the only shot fired in the three minutes
before the shooting of Abu Akleh came from the Israeli position.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>Israel determined ahead of the conclusion of its military’s
self-investigation that no soldier would face criminal charges for Abu
Akleh’s death.</p>
<p>The family of Abu Akleh, who was a US citizen, has <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/omar-karmi/abu-akleh-family-demands-us-holds-israel-accountable">pressed</a> Washington to open an investigation into the journalist’s killing.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson, <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-september-13-2022/#post-376477-IsraelPalestinianAffairs">said last week</a> that “we’ve always been very clear that we’re not looking for criminal accountability” in Abu Akleh’s case.</p>
<p>The US has <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/us-fingerprints-israeli-crimes">pressed Israel</a>
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.”</p>
<h2>EU drops call for independent investigation</h2>
<p>Like the US, the European Union is apparently satisfied with Israel’s superficial self-investigation into Abu Akleh’s death.</p>
<p>“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, <em>EUobserver</em> <a href="https://euobserver.com/world/156095">reported</a> on Monday.
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<blockquote><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><p>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.</p><p>This is betrayal of all EU rhetoric about protection of journalists worldwide and support for accountability. <a href="https://t.co/DzGQASNeyZ">https://t.co/DzGQASNeyZ</a></p></div>— Martin Konečný (@MartinKonecny) <a href="https://twitter.com/MartinKonecny/status/1572191539912413185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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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.”
<p>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.”
</p><div id="gmail-file-124251">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">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 👇 <a href="https://t.co/uMWRCLR49d">pic.twitter.com/uMWRCLR49d</a></p>— Lina Abu Akleh (@LinaAbuAkleh) <a href="https://twitter.com/LinaAbuAkleh/status/1572151269321498625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This investigation by FA and <a href="https://twitter.com/alhaq_org?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alhaq_org</a>
is the first to employ a precise digital reconstruction of the
incident. Our findings will be an addendum to a complaint to the <a href="https://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IntlCrimCourt</a> submitted by Shireen's family and colleagues this morning (20 September) at the Hague. 9/9 <a href="https://t.co/tSr0Hxtoqk">pic.twitter.com/tSr0Hxtoqk</a></p>— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForensicArchi/status/1572366623238938626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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On Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists, International
Center of Justice for Palestinians and Palestinian Journalists Syndicate
<a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/20613.html">delivered a new complaint</a> to the International Criminal Court on behalf of Abu Akleh’s family and her producer Ali Samoudi, who was moderately injured.
<p>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 <em>Haaretz</em> <a href="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">reported</a>.</p>
<p>The amendment refers to the 1997 <a href="https://www.leahy.senate.gov/issues/human-rights">Leahy Law</a>
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.</p>
<p>However, as <em>Haaretz</em> 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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<h2>Israel kills with impunity</h2>
<p>Abu Akleh’s case is an exception to the nearly blanket impunity with which Israel kills Palestinians.</p>
<p>Around 90 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and settlers so far this year. It is the <a href="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">deadliest year</a> in the territory since 2015, when around 100 Palestinians were fatally injured.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Dozens more Palestinians were killed during Israel’s nearly three-day unprovoked bombardment of Gaza last month.</p>
<p>Only a handful of Israeli soldiers have faced criminal charges over the death of a Palestinian in recent years.</p>
<p>In one of those rare examples, Border Police officer Ben Dery was <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/killer-palestinian-teen-praised-excellent-israeli-judge">sentenced to nine months</a> in prison in 2018, four years after shooting and killing Nadim Siam Nuwara, 17.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Like in the case of Abu Akleh, Forensic Architecture was tapped by Defense for Children International-Palestine to <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-analysis-pinpoints-israeli-killer-palestinian-teen">conduct a spatial and video analysis</a> to determine the soldier who shot and killed the teen.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-army-shuts-down-prominent-palestinian-rights-groups">Israeli forces raided and sealed</a>
the offices of those organizations in the area of Ramallah, the seat of
the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, during August.</p>
<p>Last week, Forensic Architecture and Al-Haq <a href="https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-raid-on-al-haqs-offices-18-august-2022">published an analysis</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Soldiers are also shown in the footage socializing and taking trophy photos and posing for selfies.</p>
<p>“With knowledge of the CCTV cameras, these actions deliver a message
of humiliation and dominance over the premises,” Forensic Architecture
and Al-Haq state.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Jabarin <a href="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">told media</a>
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.</p>
<p>Al-Haq staff have been subjected to harassment campaigns <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/holland-probes-threats-against-palestinian-groups-lawyer-hague">including death threats</a> over their work pursuing accountability at the International Criminal Court.</p>
<p>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.
</p><div id="gmail-file-124256">
<blockquote><p dir="ltr" lang="en">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 <a href="https://twitter.com/alhaq_org?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alhaq_org</a> who deploy them. <a href="https://t.co/bnoNh6GaqD">https://t.co/bnoNh6GaqD</a></p>— Rohan Talbot (@rohantalbot) <a href="https://twitter.com/rohantalbot/status/1572246299558256640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The US <a href="https://www.state.gov/the-united-states-opposes-the-icc-investigation-into-the-palestinian-situation/">opposes</a> the ICC investigation in Palestine.
<p>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 <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-may-24-2022/">same press briefing</a>, he said the White House welcomed The Hague court’s investigation of war crimes in Ukraine.</p>
<p>During his visit to Israel and the West Bank in July, Biden <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/biden-helps-israel-get-away-murder">pledged</a>
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.”</p>
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