After Meeting Blinken, Shireen Abu Akleh’s Family ‘Still Waiting’ for Justice

Relatives of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in occupied Palestine in May, followed up a Tuesday meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken by imploring the Biden administration to pursue justice for the slain Al Jazeera reporter.

“Our family just finished meeting with Sec. Blinken,” Lina Abu Akleh, Shireen’s niece, tweeted. “Although he made some commitments on Shireen’s killing, we’re still waiting to see if this administration will meaningfully answer our calls for #JusticeForShireen.”

In a statement released before the meeting, the journalist’s niece as well as brother and nephew, Tony and Victor Abu Akleh noted that “our dear sister and aunt Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on May 11, 2022, by an Israeli sniper while on assignment in the occupied Palestinian city of Jenin.”

“She was a prominent, beloved journalist and U.S. citizen,” the statement continued, “yet President [Joe] Biden did not take us up on our request to meet with him during his visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank earlier this month, despite being a mere 10 minutes from our home.”

“Since the president didn’t come to us in Jerusalem to hear first-hand our grief, outrage, and concerns regarding his administration’s lack of response to Shireen’s extrajudicial killing, we decided to come to him,” the relatives added.

Among the family’s demands are a meeting with Biden “to discuss the status of Shireen’s case and the administration’s proposed next steps in pursuing justice and accountability,” as well as a “thorough, credible, independent, and transparent investigation into Shireen’s murder.”