The Israeli army said Monday there was a “high possibility” that a soldier killed a well-known Al Jazeera journalist in the West Bank last May, as it announced the results of its investigation into the incident.
In a briefing to reporters, a senior military official said a soldier opened fire after mistakenly identifying Shireen Abu Akleh as a terrorist. He said no one would be punished.
The conclusions were the closest Israel has come to taking responsibility for her death and followed a series of investigations by media organizations and the United States that concluded Israel either fired, or most likely had fired, the deadly shot. But they were unlikely to put the matter to rest.
“He misidentified her,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under military briefing guidelines. “His reports in real time…absolutely point to a misidentification.”
Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and a vest identifying her as press when she was killed in May while covering Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank.
The 51-year-old Palestinian-American had covered the West Bank for two decades and was a well-known face across the Arab world. The Palestinians, and Abu Akleh’s family, have accused Israel of intentionally killing her, and her death remains a major point of contention between the sides.
Israel has said she was killed during a complex battle with Palestinian terrorists and that only a forensic analysis of the bullet could confirm whether it was fired by an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian terrorist. However, a U.S.-led analysis of the bullet last July was inconclusive as investigators said the bullet had been badly damaged.
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
9 Responses
Any reporter who sticks themselves in such a situation is committing suicide. No one can be held responsible for the death when dealing in such a situation. Just watch the videos. They speak for themselves.
Apparently we have brainless people in that country. Even if they did find that this alleged reporterette was killed By is really fire, they should never say anything about it. Why admit to something like this The whole thing ends up becoming a PR show for the Arabs. Why feed them the information? Bunch of morons in Israel!
Yaapchik:
there is a long and celebrated history of reporters operating in war zones. The main merit to your argument is that she went to a conflict area that is known for using media personnel as human shields (see for example the associated press building in Gaza).
Jersey Jew:
A consistent policy of lying about every incident will only serve to get you “boy who cried wolf” status.
A much better policy in this regard is to be mindful of the fact that you are always on display, but stuff happens sometimes.
You also need to consistently point out what your opponent is doing wrong with the evidence to back up your claims.
So?
One less terrorist in the world!
in my eyes she is a terrorist or at least was…..I remain to believe it was one of her own….
To jersey Jew: I don’t know about morons in Israel, but I know there is at least one in Jersey. Arabs may not respect the truth, but America and its allies do, and that is an important quality for Israel and for maintaining its alliances.
@Kach and Sara Rifka
Show some humanity for crying out loud, she was not a terrorist and she was brutally murdered.
Maybe YWN can apologize for this Headline, “Palestinian Terrorists Kill Al-Jazeera Reporter, Blame Falls On Israel” and for all the subsequent one’s that turned out to be false in this case.
1) A journalist is not a terrorist. Any claims to the contrary weakens your argument when you label an actual terrorist as such.
2) A journalist’s job is to situate themselves in risky situations in order to report what is going on.
3) No party, including Israel, should try to defend murdering a civilian or journalist.
4) In war, accidents happen. Investigate, take responsibility, apologise, and improve for next time.