US report on Abu Akleh murder must be made public, senator demands | Press Freedom News

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Chris Van Hollen says that although the United States has not conducted an independent investigation, the government report provides important information.

Washington, DC A US senator has called on the administration of President Joe Bidens to release a government report into the murder of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Democrat Chris Van Hollen said Monday that he reviewed the report from the US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) weeks after requesting it from the State Department.

But Van Hollen said he now wants it declassified in its entirety.

I firmly believe that its public release is essential to ensure transparency and accountability in the shooting death of American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and to avoid future targets of preventable and wrongful deaths that we should all support, said the senator in a statement.

Abu Akleh, a veteran US-Palestinian correspondent, was killed on May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli raid in Jenin, a city in the occupied West Bank.

At first, Israeli officials falsely accused Palestinian gunmen of killing Abu Akleh before acknowledging months later that she was likely killed by an Israeli soldier.

Yet Israel called the incident unintentional and failed to open a criminal investigation into the killing, prompting the United States, a staunch Israeli ally, to conduct its own investigation and demand accountability in this case.

Van Hollen said Monday that the USSC, which oversees and promotes security coordination between Israeli and Palestinian officials, has not had access to key witnesses and has been unable to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. murder.

Still, the senator said the report provides very important information about the incident, including the Israeli unit involved in the operation that led to Abu Akleh’s death, as well as other [Israeli military] units operating in the West Bank.

The report is described as a summary document on further investigations into the incident.

In July 2022, the State Department cited an initial USSC summary of investigations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which said Israeli fire was likely responsible for the death of Abu Akleh, although he found no reason to believe the shooting was intentional. .

The assessment angered Palestinian rights supporters who noted that US authorities failed to interview witnesses and ignored the AP’s conclusion that the shooting was deliberate.

The USSC report, which Van Hollen said Monday he reviewed, is seen as a more thorough account of the US government’s findings. Specific details of the report, including when it was finalized and what it contains, remain unclear.

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Witnesses, video footage and investigations by numerous media concluded that there was no fighting in the immediate vicinity of where Abu Akleh, who was wearing full press gear, was shot dead.

In the months that followed, Van Hollen and other US lawmakers called for a US investigation into the incident.

Late last year, Israeli and US media reported that the FBI was investigating the murder, but US authorities, including the Justice and State Departments, have refused to confirm or deny the incident. existence of the alleged investigation.

US officials initially called for accountability in the case, including prosecuting Abu Akleh’s killers to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Weeks after the shooting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Washington was seeking an independent investigation into the killing.

But Washington appeared to drop that demand last year. Instead, the State Department now says it is seeking accountability by calling on Israel to review its rules of military engagement, a request Israeli leaders have openly rejected.

In the aftermath of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death, Secretary Blinken called on the Israeli government to review the [military] rules of engagement in the West Bank, but it was pushed back, such a review remains necessary, Van Hollen said in a Monday statement.

Last month, on the first anniversary of Abu Akleh’s assassination, the family of Al Jazeera journalists met with lawmakers in Washington, DC to renew their calls for justice.

It’s not just that the Biden administration has done nothing to get justice for Shireen; is that they are actively working to block any form of accountability, MP Rashida Tlaib told reporters at the time.

If the administration really wanted to help, it would launch a full State Department investigation into whether or not US weapons were used to commit this and other war crimes and human rights abuses.

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