Catholic leader blasts Israeli conduct at journalist funeral
The top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land on Monday condemned the police beating of mourners carrying the casket of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, accusing the authorities of violating human rights and disrespecting the Catholic Church.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters at St. Joseph Hospital in Jerusalem that Friday's incident, broadcast around the world, was a “disproportionate use of force” against a large crowd of people waving Palestinian flags as they proceeded from the hospital to a nearby Catholic church in Jerusalem's Old City. The attack drew worldwide condemnation and added to the shock and outrage over the death of Abu Akleh, who was killed as she covered a shootout in the occupied West Bank.
The police attack, Pizzaballa told reporters, “is a severe violation of international norms and regulations, including the fundamental human right of freedom of religion, which must be observed also in a public space.” Leaders and clergy of other Christian churches sat nearby.
There was no immediate Israeli response.
Israel and the Palestinians are locked in a war of narratives over Abu Akleh's killing. The reporter, a Palestinian-American, a Catholic and a 25-year veteran of the satellite channel, was shot Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp. She was wearing a blue vest clearly marked “Press.” Abu Akleh was a household name across the Arab world, known for documenting the hardship of Palestinian life under Israeli rule.
Palestinian officials and witnesses, including journalists who were with her, say she was killed by army fire. The military, after initially saying Palestinian gunmen might have been responsible, later backtracked and now says it's not clear who fired the deadly bullet.
The United States and United Nations are among the many critics of the police crackdown at the funeral.
Israeli police say they agreed on funeral arrangements ahead of time with Abu Akleh's family, and that a crowd of mourners violated that agreement by marching with the coffin, instead of driving with it, and shouting nationalistic slogans.
But Abu Akleh's brother, Anton, disputed those claims. He said Monday that the family had given the funeral arrangements to Israeli police.
He said police did not want slogans or Palestinian flags. But he said “this is something we cannot control.”
Anton said police also wanted to know the funeral route, and there was no other agreement. “We wanted to put the coffin in the car,” he said. “We were going to the car when they attacked us.”
Israeli police launched an investigation into the conduct of the officers who attacked the mourners, causing the pallbearers to nearly drop the casket.