The US State Department said on Monday that the analysis of the bullet that killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last May “could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding [its] origin,” Israeli media reported.
In the statement, US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that “ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion.”
Disgusting. The US has fully partnered with Israel to cover up the latter's responsibility for the willful killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, even justifying it by citing that it followed a series of "terror" attacks in Israel. https://t.co/Dh2iI6r6Ef
— Maureen Murphy (@maureenclarem) July 4, 2022
Price added that American examiners reached the conclusion that “gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh,” but that the US Security Coordinator “found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances”.
Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, said that Palestine would move to take the case to the International Criminal Court.
The US report contradicts the conclusions reached by at least five major international media outlets, which published detailed investigative reports, all holding Israel accountable for Abu Akleh’s assassination.
US concludes that the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was carried out by Israeli force but “the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.”
Justification for murder of their own citizen pic.twitter.com/NOUO2xhV7d
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) July 4, 2022
Moreover, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner stated on June 24 that Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces.
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani said in a press release that “the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague, Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli Security Forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
