Rejecting Israeli Report on Journalist’s Killing, Senator Demands Independent US Probe

Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is re-upping his demand for an independent probe into the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh after rejecting the findings of a new report issued by the Israeli Army which claimed its soldiers may have accidentally shot the reporter.

A report released by Israel over Labor Day weekend, said the Maryland Democrat, contradicted investigations conducted by the United Nations, The New York Times, The Washington Post, other news outlets, and human rights groups shortly after Abu Akleh’s fatal shooting in the West Bank in May.

Months after the incident, Israel said it was “highly probable” that Abu Akleh was killed by a member of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), but that the shooting was accidental and the journalist was caught in crossfire as the Israeli soldier was under fire by Palestinians.

The lack of evidence provided by Israel, said Van Hollen, “underscores [the] need for [an] independent U.S. inquiry into this American journalist’s death.”

According to witness accounts and videos of Abu Akleh before her killing, the journalist was wearing a helmet clearly identifying her as a member of the press and was not in the vicinity of fighting when she was killed.

A probe by the U.N. in June found that rather than an accidental shooting by a soldier who misidentified her as a combatant, Abu Akleh was shot by “several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets.”

Van Hollen led several Democratic senators in July in demanding the Biden administration ensure an independent probe, noting that a forensic analysis of the bullet which killed Abu Akleh “hardly constitutes an independent investigation into the overall circumstances of her killing.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.