Israeli PM Slams Al Jazeera For Requesting International Criminal Court Investigate Death of Journalist
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Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid criticized Al Jazeera after the outlet filed a case with the International Criminal Court over the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
Akleh was shot and killed on May 11 while covering clashes between the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian gunmen at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. She was 51 years old.
Israeli officials initially said Akleh was likely killed by Palestinian fire. After independent investigations determined she was likely killed by an Israeli soldier, the Israeli army said its own investigation concurred with that assessment, though it insisted the killing was unintentional. Al Jazeera has called it a “deliberate killing.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Al Jazeera announced the filing with the ICC demanding investigation.
“The submission comes six months after the brutal killing of Shireen Abu Akleh during which time Al Jazeera’s legal team has conducted a full and detailed investigation into the case and unearthed new evidence based on several eyewitness accounts, the examination of multiple items of video footage, and forensic evidence pertaining to the case,” the network said in the statement.
Al Jazeera says the filing highlights the new evidence to “clearly show that Shireen and her colleagues were directly fired at by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).”
“The claim by the Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed by mistake in an exchange of fire is completely unfounded,” it says. “The evidence presented to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) confirms, without any doubt, that there was no firing in the area where Shireen was, other than the IOF shooting directly at her.”
Lapid blasted the outlet for going to ICC, whose jurisdiction doesn’t include Israel.
“No one will investigate IDF soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera,” he said.
In September, Israel took responsibility for Akleh’s death.
An Israel Defense Forces official told reporters ahead of the release of the findings that the military knows the soldier that “likely fired the shot.”
“It was a mistake and he is sorry for it,” said the official.
No criminal charges will be filed over the incident, according to the official.
