Israeli soldier shot Abu Akleh, says IDF
THE Israeli army conceded yesterday for the first time that one of its soldiers had likely shot Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh after having mistaken her for a militant.
“There is a high possibility that Ms Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF (Israel Defence Forces) gunfire fired towards suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen,” said the army’s final investigation report into her May 11 death.
The acknowledgement comes after months in which the army had insisted it was impossible to determine the source of the deadly shot that killed the celebrated Al Jazeera journalist in the occupied West Bank, saying it could have been militant fire.
“Our conclusion is that it’s not possible to determine unequivocally which gunfire killed her, but there’s a higher probability that she was hit by an errant shot of an IDF soldier who did not identify her as a journalist,” a senior Israeli military officer said.
Abu Akleh was wearing a bulletproof vest marked “Press” and a helmet when she was shot in the head during an Israeli army operation.
The Abu Akleh family said Israel had “refused to take responsibility for the murder” of the journalist, in a press release issued in the wake of the army’s report. “We remain deeply hurt, frustrated and disappointed,” the family said, calling for a “credible” US investigation.
The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of intentionally killing the reporter in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank, but Israel has insisted that even if a soldier fired the fatal shot it was not deliberate.
Yesterday, the senior army officer said the soldiers were under heavy fire and aimed to hit Abu Akleh because they had mistaken her for a Palestinian militant. “When they fired in her direction they didn’t know she was a journalist, it was a mistake, they thought they were firing at terrorists shooting at them,” the officer said. “He’s sorry about it and I’m sorry about it too,” the officer said of the soldier who shot in the direction of Abu Akleh.
“He didn’t do it on purpose, it’s totally clear,” he added.
But the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists was critical of the army’s report. Its “admission of guilt is late and incomplete. They provided no name for Shireen Abu Akleh’s killer and no other information than his or
her own testimony that the killing was a mistake,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa programme co-ordinator.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem condemned the army’s report as a “whitewash”. The killing was “no mistake, it’s policy”, it said.
A UN investigation concluded in June there was “no evidence of activity by armed Palestinians close by” when Abu Akleh was shot. The US on July 4 said she was likely shot by Israeli fire but there was no evidence her killing was intentional; the bullet was too damaged for a conclusive finding.
The US statement outraged Abu Akleh’s family and Palestinian leaders who accused Washington of failing to seek accountability from Israel over the killing of the journalist.