Israel released the results of its investigation into the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. She was an American citizen who reported on the conflict in Palestine for Al Jazeera.
Israel was pressured into carrying out this investigation after initially refusing to do so. You may also recall that her funeral was stormed by Israeli forces and created an awful scene.
The evidence was fairly incontrovertible that Israeli forces were responsible for her death and now Israel admits it, albeit sheepishly. The report says that it is not possible to determine who fired “unequivocally” but they finally do admit that “there is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by [Israeli] gunfire fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire in which life-threatening, widespread and indiscriminate shots were fired toward IDF soldiers.” Yet they still leave room for the possibility that she was killed by Palestinian gunmen.
Videos from the scene do not show an exchange of gunfire. They show her casually walking amongst Palestinians.
Israel says that this matter is now concluded and no one will be punished for her death. Many are outraged about this but the United States is not among them. The U.S. has refused to condemn this act, presumably because there is no war there to pursue.
