CPJ Demands FBI Progress Update on Shireen Abu Akleh Killing in West Bank

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded a “public progress update” from United States authorities on the FBI probe into the Israeli military’s killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

“The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded a “public progress update” from United States authorities on the FBI probe into the Israeli military’s killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, who was shot dead in the occupied West Bank in 2022”

Al Jazeera

In an open letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI chief Kash Patel, the CPJ said the “effectively stagnant status of this case is inconsistent with ensuring the security of US citizens anywhere in the world.”

Al Jazeera

The CPJ said there had been no formal interviews with witnesses “despite the willingness of multiple witnesses to cooperate,” and it also said there were no signs of FBI activity to gather evidence in Israel or Palestine.

Al Jazeera reported that Abu Akleh, 51, was covering Israeli army raids in the West Bank city of Jenin when she was killed on May 11, 2022, wearing a clearly marked press vest when she was shot dead.

The CPJ asked for a public update, a commitment to a timeline, and the public release of findings, while also saying the investigation needs to be “impartial and independent, free from political considerations.”

Abu Akleh’s family said in a statement that “despite the passage of time, justice remains elusive,” and it added that the lack of justice “sends a dangerous message that journalists can be targeted without consequence.”

The CPJ said Abu Akleh’s death became a symbol of the wider Palestinian struggle, and it noted that murals of her have adorned cities of the occupied territory as people remember her for her reporting.

Al-Monitor

Al Jazeera also reported that the CPJ said Israel has killed 258 journalists and media workers since Abu Akleh’s killing, and it described Israel’s allegations of links to armed groups as “deadly smears” that the CPJ says employers deny.

In the CPJ’s framing, the “prevailing culture of complete impunity enjoyed by Israel” is “a direct factor in the continued targeting of journalists without deterrence,” and it warned that without accountability such attacks “will only continue to escalate.”

The CPJ’s regional director Sara Qudah said, “Without an independent investigation and real accountability, such attacks will only continue to escalate, emboldening those who seek to silence the truth through violence.”

While CPJ pressed the United States to reopen and update the FBI investigation, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded that Abu Akleh was killed by a shot from the Israeli Defense Forces.

“By Shatha Hanaysha Three years ago, on May 11, 2022, Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the Jenin refugee camp, by a bullet that was neither the first nor the last fired at Palestinian journalists”

Chronique de Palestine

At a regular UN press briefing in Geneva, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said, “All the information we have collected — including from the Israeli military and the Palestinian Attorney General — corroborates the fact that the shots that killed Ms. Abu Akleh” came from Israeli security forces.

The UN said the journalists had chosen an approach “that made them visible to the Israeli forces deployed in the street,” and it described Abu Akleh wearing a bulletproof vest bearing the word “press” and a protective helmet when she was struck just below the rim of her helmet.

OHCHR said its conclusions indicated that “no warning was issued and that no shooting took place at that time and at that place,” and it said several bursts of gunfire from Israeli forces hit the journalists.

The UN also said it was “deeply troubling” that Israel had not opened a judicial investigation, and it continued to urge Israeli authorities to open a criminal investigation into the murder of Abu Akleh and other killings and serious injuries carried out by Israeli forces.