Israeli premier rejects US request to revise army rules of engagement

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has rejected US calls to the Israeli army to change its rules of engagement after the results of an investigation proving the involvement of the Israeli army in the shooting of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

“No one will dictate our rules of engagement to us when we are fighting for our lives,” Lapid said at a navy officers’ graduation ceremony.

“I will not allow an IDF (Israeli army) soldier that was protecting himself from terrorist fire to be prosecuted just to receive applause from abroad,” he added.

Lapid, however, expressed “sorrow” over Abu Akleh’s death, alleging that during the incident that led to her shooting “there was heavy enemy fire.”

Earlier on Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel had said that the Biden administration continues “to press Israeli partners to closely review their policies and practices on rules of engagement and consider additional steps to mitigate the risks of civilian harm, protect journalists, and prevent similar tragedies in the future.”

The Israeli army had finally accepted on Monday that there was a “high possibility” that the Palestinian journalist was killed by “wrong gunfire” from an Israeli soldier shooting at Palestinian gunmen during clashes.

Abu Akleh was killed on May 11, and the Palestinian Health Ministry said she was shot in the head while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Several leading media agencies, including Al Jazeera, CNN, the Associated Press, Washington Post, and New York Times, conducted their own investigations, which all came to the conclusion that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli bullet.