🇵🇸 Today marks the fourth anniversary of the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
On May 11, 2022, Abu Akleh was shot by the Israeli military in broad daylight, while wearing a helmet and flak jacket emblazoned with the word “Press” on it, walking on a street near the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp, with no crossfire in the area. While the incident was captured on video and supported by the eyewitness testimony of her colleagues, no one was held accountable in her death.
Despite Abu Akleh being a U.S. citizen, President Biden refused to meet with her family and the U.S. adopted Israel’s narrative of her death. An FBI investigation into her killing has stalled.
On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to the Justice Department urging “transparency on the status and timeline for a seemingly languishing investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh.”
CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said in a statement that, “The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and the subsequent failure to hold anyone responsible is not an isolated tragedy; it is a symptom of a systematic failure to protect journalists that has now reached a breaking point.”
She added, “The prevailing culture of complete impunity enjoyed by Israel is a direct factor in the continued targeting of journalists without deterrence.”
Watch an in-depth investigation of Abu Akleh’s killing and her family’s fight for accountability by Drop Site’s Middle East North Africa editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous with Laila al-Arian and Kavitha Chekuru for Fault Lines at the link below.
Four years ago today, Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli military, and our government did nothing. Since then, over 260 journalists have suffered the same deadly fate. We must uplift the truth in Palestine; they were murdered for reporting.