How Many More Jews Must Die?
I had the pleasure of meeting Miriam Fuld this week. Later, I found out that the anniversary of her husband Ari’s death was only a few days before she so graciously hosted us at her home. We were priv...
Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist for the Qatar-funded media network, Al Jazeera, was tragically killed in Jenin in Judea and Samaria this week. Local and international media have already rushed to condemn Israel for her death, even though an investigation has not yet been conducted, and it’s just as likely (if not more likely) that the responsibility for her death lies squarely with Palestinian Arab terrorists.
This Wednesday, on May 11, 2022, the IDF entered the terror hotbed city of Jenin, located in northern Samaria, in an operation to hunt down Palestinian Islamic terrorists. They were met by heavy gunfire from Palestinian militants. In the midst of this gunfire, Shireen Abu Akleh, a journalist who was conducting news coverage for Al Jazeera, was struck in the head by a bullet and killed. She had been reporting for Al Jazeera since 1997.
While the incident is tragic and unfortunate, it’s important to note several things:
- There is zero proof that Israel killed Shireen Abu Akleh.
- The world has already rushed to condemn Israel with ZERO facts.
- The PA has refused to cooperate in a joint investigation with Israel.
Here are a few of the headlines that have already made their way around the world, drawing so many to condemn Israel:
- “Israel’s assassination of journalist Abu Akleh”
- “The crime of executing Abu Akleh”
- “Israel’s violent assassination”
- “Deliberate targeting”
- “Heinous crime”
- “Israel has a shoot-to-kill policy against the Palestinian people”
- “Israel openly rewards their soldiers for the killing of Palestinians, including journalists”
Israel immediately offered to participate in an open and transparent joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority to determine who is responsible for Abu Akleh’s death. The Palestinians refused. Regardless of who is responsible, the Palestinians seem determined to play the game safely – refusing to cooperate with Israel knowing that the full condemnation will fall on the IDF, no matter what the truth reveals.
While there have been conflicting videos and reports circulating on social media, things are still unclear. A careful preliminary analysis by the IDF shows video footage of Palestinian militants rushing out of an alley a short distance from where the journalist was killed, shouting that they had just shot a soldier [they presume Israeli], and that they had seen him fall to the ground. Since journalists wear flak jackets and military helmets, it would be easy to mistake them for an Israeli soldier from a distance. As the IDF reported zero casualties from their operation in Jenin, there is a good chance it was someone else that the militants shot, perhaps the Al Jazeera journalist.
Additionally, consider this: if the IDF entered Jenin, a known hotbed of terror, and immediately encountered heavy gunfire by armed militants, why would the only casualty from the operation be a journalist? Armed and dangerous radical terrorists are the target of the IDF’s operations in Judea and Samaria. And the IDF is one of the best militaries in the world with an impossibly high standard of operations. If the IDF didn’t even shoot one terrorist during their operation in Jenin, why would they have targeted a journalist?
There is a possibility that Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by an IDF bullet. If she was, it was most certainly an unfortunate accident, and Abu Akleh is an innocent casualty of violence, just like so many unfortunate others in her line of work all over the world.
However, the evidence suggests otherwise, and the chances that Abu Akleh was killed by terrorists’ gunfire is likely. Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the Palestinians see their opportunity in this tragic incident. They know for a fact that no matter if the truth gets out or not, they have already won the narrative war against Israel, and it will go down in the misinformation history books that “Israel deliberately targeted and murdered an innocent journalist.”
After all, radical Islamic Jihadists don’t care about truth.
Besides, if it weren’t for the Palestinians’ insistent and murderous hatred of and violence towards Israel, Shireen Abu Akleh would still be alive.
