WHEN Israel has to stoop so low in murdering Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, a Palestinian-American journalist in cold blood in order to prevent her from reporting the truth about the brutal treatment of the Palestinians by the Zionist apartheid regime of Israel, it was a sign the country was going down into oblivion, following the path of the former apartheid regime of South Africa after decades of apartheid system and policy.
Abu Akleh, who worked for Al Jazeera for 25 years and was one of the most prominent names across the Middle East for her decades of reporting in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, despite wearing a blue vest with “PRESS” written on it.
She was shot in the face, allegedly on purpose, while doing what she has been doing since 1997 for Al Jazeera – telling the truth.
Abu Akleh was murdered for telling, yet again, the truth about how Israel has corralled, bludgeoned, “raided”, evicted, jailed, traumatised, tortured, murdered, and terrorised Palestinian after Palestinian, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade.
She did her job well, with grace, patience and resilience despite the indignities, horrors and dangers.
It was her duty, obligation and responsibility to bear witness.
Even in death she was not spared. Television pictures worldwide showed her casket almost falling to the ground on several occasions during her funeral due to the severe beatings from Israeli security forces on the pallbearers – a testament to how dignity and respect for the dead was trampled by the uncivilised security forces of Israel.
This time around international condemnation for the killing and brutal treatment of mourners were fast and furious.
For the first time, Israel’s biggest ally the US had come out with supportive statements for the Palestinians, in contrast to abstentions or elegant silences of the past.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for “an immediate and credible investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death”, expressing his deep condolences for her loss and deep respect for the “work that she did as a journalist for many years – widely respected around the world”.
On the brutal treatment by Israeli security forces on unarmed mourners, Blinken said: “We are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price said “we are heartbroken by and strongly condemn the killing”, calling it an “affront to media freedom everywhere” and said the perpetrators “must be held accountable”.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called Abu Akleh’s death “really horrifying”, and called for a transparent and thorough investigation.
US speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote on Twitter: “The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is an horrific tragedy”, to which a rightful sarcastic rejoinder from Al Jazeera columnist, Andrew Mitrovica, was: “Newsflash, Speaker Pelosi, shooting a Palestinian-American journalist in the face on purpose is not a ‘tragedy’. It is a crime. We know, we know, Israeli soldiers never commit crimes.”
It is quite unprecedented for a long list of US high-ranking officials to comment on such a killing – a normal and routine affair in Israeli-occupied territories.
Perhaps, this has a lot to do with the Russia-Ukraine war where it is observed a double standard exists in which the US is quick at condemning perceived atrocities and injustices compared with its abstentions and elegant silences on the real atrocities and injustices of Israel towards the Palestinians.
At the recent Asean-US Special Summit on May 14 in Washington, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was the only Asean leader courageous enough to bring up the issue of Israeli atrocities towards the Palestinians during the meeting with Biden.
He called for Washington to use its influence in resolving the Palestinian issue.
“Israeli atrocities must be stopped. The US must be honest in resolving the issue. If the US can take swift action in Ukraine, we want the same swift action to be taken on the Palestinian issue,” he said.
The US and its European allies seem to get a lukewarm response from many countries for its advocate of a global coalition of the willing to enforce sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Perhaps this was among the chief reasons why a special summit by the US president with Asean leaders was held, ostensibly to get their buy-in in supporting the coalition of the willing to impose a global sanction on Russia, instead of giving more emphasis on working via diplomacy to end the war.
On the Russia-Ukraine war, Asean told the US president it wanted the crisis to be resolved via the negotiation table.
“War does not benefit anyone. In fact, many would suffer great losses because of the war,“ said Ismail Sabri.
He was spot on in his comment but should have added more.
Ismail Sabri also pointed out that Southeast Asian countries were also affected by the war, especially in terms of the rise in inflation and food prices, hence the call for the war to be resolved through peaceful means.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic clergy in Jerusalem strongly condemned the actions of Israeli police at Abu Akleh’s funeral, adding that Israeli police were “disrespectful and disproportionate” in their use of force.
As the late Abu Akleh was a Christian, it goes to show the Palestinian issue was not merely a Muslim or Islamic issue but an all-encompassing issue involving even Palestinian Christians who have been oppressed and are being continually oppressed along with their Muslim brethren by the brutal Zionist regime of Israel.
Israel’s first reaction to the killing was attributing it to Palestinian gunmen, and that she was caught in the crossfire of clashes.
This is a well-known trademark response of denial and shifting the blame to the Palestinians by Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said “armed Palestinians shot in an inaccurate, indiscriminate, and uncontrolled manner” during the IDF’s (Israel Defence Forces) operation.
“Our forces from the IDF returned fire as accurately, carefully and responsibly as possible. Sadly, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in the exchange.”
But for its accurate, careful and responsible returned fire, the IDF failed to kill a single Palestinian gunmen then, making its account of the killing of Abu Akleh a real fantasy.
Also, a researcher with the preeminent Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem analysed the footage and reported the gunman in the video was in a separate location in Jenin entirely.
Israel has maintained that it is committed to investigations, including one devoted to Abu Akleh’s death.
But again its trademark response for delaying an investigation is fully exhibited when Bennet said: “To uncover the truth, there must be a real investigation, and the Palestinians are currently preventing that. Without a serious investigation, we will not reach the truth.”
He was referring to an earlier statement by the Israeli government saying it would jointly investigate the killing with the Palestinian Authority, but the Palestinian side declined to provide Abu Akleh’s body or share the bullet that killed her with Israeli authorities.
According to analysts, the Palestinian refusal has a lot to do with the Israeli government not having a good track record of investigating its own crimes.
Israel doesn’t allow international investigations of violations in the country or the occupied territories, and in recent years has chosen not to cooperate or provide access to UN commissions or special rapporteurs.
Israel has even designated the premier Palestinian rights organisation Al-Haq as a terrorist organisation in what experts called retribution for Al-Haq’s documentation of violations on the ground.
It is quite telling that even an Israeli rights group has no confidence in investigations spearheaded by Israel.
“No one should believe the Israeli promises to quote-unquote investigate what has happened because the promise of investigations are nothing but the first step in Israel’s organised whitewash,” said Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the rights group B’Tselem.
“Israel is unable and unwilling to conduct such investigations which opens the door to international legal responsibility,” he added.
And that’s mainly because it’s the army that’s investigating the army.
The big question now is with the global condemnations on the killing including from its biggest ally, the US – which has demanded a thorough, transparent and independent investigation, along with the EU and UN Security Council – it remains to be seen whether Israel will drag its feet in carrying out the investigation.
With Israel well known for ignoring and violating UN Resolutions, it will be more interesting to watch the reactions of the US, EU and UN Security Council in the event Israel drags its feet in carrying out the investigation or refuses to investigate the killing.
Jamari Mohtar is the Editor of Let’s Talk!, an e-newsletter on current affairs. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
