New CNN Analysis Suggests Israeli Forces Targeted Slain Palestinian-American Journalist

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When journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by the Israel Defense Forces earlier this month, the IDF maintained she was killed amid crossfire, possibly by Palestinian militants.

Ultimately, the Israel military conceded it’s possible she was killed by its forces.

However, new evidence suggests the IDF deliberately targeted the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter and shot her in the head. At the time of her death, Abu Akleh was covering an IDF raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. She was wearing a blue vest that read “PRESS.”

A forensic audio and video analysis conducted for CNN indicates Abu Akleh was shot from a distance of about 200 meters. In addition, there were no hostilities between the IDF and Palestinian militants at the time:

Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.

Four other journalists who were present stated there was no active combat when she was shot.

One witness, a refugee, told CNN, “There was no conflict or confrontations at all. We were about 10 guys, give or take, walking around, laughing and joking with the journalists,” he said. “We were not afraid of anything. We didn’t expect anything would happen, because when we saw journalists around, we thought it’d be a safe area.”

A professor named Jamal Huwail, who helped remove Aby Akleh’s body from the street, corroborates other eyewitness accounts. “They were shooting directly at the journalists,” he said.

Israel has said it will not open a criminal investigation into the shooting.

At Abu Akleh’s funeral, disturbing video emerged of Israeli soldiers beating pallbearers to the point where they lost control of her casket.