They All Blamed Israel for Her Death

On May 11th, 2022, Al-Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu-Akleh, was tragically killed during a firefight between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in the Arab town of Jenin. Since then, the world has done nothing but condemn Israel for the reporter’s death.

Ever since this incident took place, Israel has been very transparent and has offered multiple times to conduct a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority. The PA on the other hand, refused to join in an investigation with Israel or to even hand over the bullet for forensic analysis. Despite the fact that Israel has been willing to take responsibility and the PA has acted very suspiciously, the mainstream media and the United Nations have still chosen to condemn Israel. 

One CNN headline said, “They were shooting directly at the journalists: New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces.” 

A New York Times article said, “A month-long investigation by The New York Times found that the bullet that killed Ms. Abu Akleh was fired from the approximate location of the Israeli military convoy, most likely by a soldier from an elite unit.” It went on to say, “The evidence reviewed by The Times showed that there were no armed Palestinians near her when she was shot. It contradicted Israeli claims that, if a soldier had mistakenly killed her, it was because he had been shooting at a Palestinian gunman.”

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a statement; he said it was “deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation.” They also added that the agency had conducted independent monitoring into the incident, determining that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh could have only come from Israeli forces and that the bullets fired at and around Abu Akleh were “seemingly well-aimed.” 

So without any evidence, the New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press, as well as the UN and many other major news networks blamed Israel for the death of the journalist. Al-Jazeera even dared to say it was an assasination. 

Last week, the PA finally decided to hand over the bullet that killed Shireen Abu-Akleh to United States officials for investigation. After a detailed, forensic analysis in cooperation with Israel, Ned Price issued a statement from the US State Department. It started out, “After an extremely detailed forensic analysis, independent, third-party examiners, as part of a process overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet that killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh. Ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion.” Despite the fact that he said the investigation was inconclusive, he made some very disturbing statements. He went on to say, “In addition to the forensic and ballistic analysis, the USSC was granted full access to both Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations over the last several weeks. By summarizing both investigations, the USSC concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Aqleh. The USSC found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.”

So first of all, Ned Price said that the evidence was not conclusive, then he went on to say that it was mostly likely an Israeli soldier that fired the fateful bullet. 

My question today is, why? Why, when there has been absolutely no evidence proving who killed Shireen Abu-Akleh, has the whole world blamed Israel? Why did the mainstream media ignore the nineteen terrorist attacks that took place in the months before the journalist’s death, and instead choose to focus on this incident? When there was no conclusive evidence, why did Ned Price say that Israel was most likely the perpetrator?

This hatred must cease. The time has come when we as Israel supporters must rise up and say, “Enough.” God will not look favorably on those who mess with the apple of His eye.