On May 11, 2022, in another act of senseless violence, an Israeli sniper shot and killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Abu Akleh was shot through the back of the neck, the bullet exiting through her face. She was one of the most prominent reporters in Palestine.
The New York Times received backlash from the public for titling their initial story “Shireen Abu Akleh, Trailblazing Palestinian Journalist, Dies at 51,” making it sound as if she died peacefully in her sleep. The Times have since corrected the title, but this reflects the hesitancy of American and western mainstream media to be frank about what is happening in Occupied Palestine. Abu Akleh was a journalist who did not die, but was murdered, for the story she was so committed to tell.
At the time she was shot, Abu Akleh was unable to receive immediate medical attention. Palestinian journalist Mujahid Al Saadi, who was in Jenin at the time, recounted the incident, noting that anyone who tried to get to Abu Akleh was targeted with gunfire. Another Palestininan journalist, Ali al-Samudi, was also injured from a shot to the back and hospitalized, though he is now in stable condition. Both al-Samoudi and Abu Akleh had blue helmets and blue flak jackets with bold white lettering identifying them as press.
Abu Akleh was a prominent reporter for Al Jazeera covering the plight of Palestinians. Dalia Hatuqa, a friend of Abu Akleh and a journalist herself, joined Democracy Now in recounting her murder. “Shireen was a Palestinan Christian from Jerusalem,” Hatuqa explained. “She gave voice to the struggles of Palestinians over a career spanning three decades.” Among her friends, family, and colleagues, Abu Akleh was a highly respected reporter and even more loved person.
Abu Akleh was covering Israel’s violent military operation of the Jenin refugee camp in Palestinian territory. Israeli military officials initially suggested that it was Palestinan fire that killed Abu Akleh, but later pulled back and acknowledged that it could have been their soldiers. Al Jazeera Jerusalem bureau chief Walid Al-Omari and multiple witnesses have clearly stated that Abu Akleh was targeted by Israeli snipers. As Hatuqa mentions, the shots, specifically the shot that killed Abu Akleh, only could have been fired by an experienced shooter.
The murder of Shireen Abu Akleh is by no means the first time Israeli forces have targeted Palestinian journalists. Very recently, in 2018, two journalists were killed while covering the Great March of Return, a movement demanding the right to return to ancestral land that 750,000 Palestinians were removed from to create the Israeli state. Abu Hussein and Yasser Moraja were, like Abu Akleh, shot and killed by Israeli snipers. According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been wounded by Israeli’s with batons, tear gas, as well as live fire and rubber bullets in the last four years. And according to the Palestinian Ministry of Information, 45 journalists have been killed since 2000, while the Palestinan Jounralist’s Union reports that 55 journalist have been murdered by Israeli forces in the same time frame.
In May of 2021, Israel targeted a press building housing the Associated Press News and Al Jazeera offices. The Israeli military phoned a warning, giving those inside of the building one hour to evacuate. After everyone was out of the building, Israeli forces bombed the 12 story building, which still contained cameras, footage, and other resources held by the press. Their justification was that Hamas military intelligence was held in the building.
With that in mind, the United States government is culpable for these vicious attacks on the press by the Israeli state. In 2016, the U.S. and Israel agreed to their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding on military aid that covered U.S. military assistance to Israel until 2028. The implication of the memorandum is that the United States pledged to provide $38 billion in military funds to the state of Israel. This funding does not include additional aid passed by Congress outside of the agreement, such as Congress’s approval of $1 billion in new funding for Israel in October of 2021. Despite consistent violations of international humanitarian law, the United States government continues to militarily fund Israeli Apartheid.
U.S. and Western complicity in the human rights abuses being committed by the state of Israel is in part why a brave reporter like Abu Akleh was killed. Without international pressure and accountability, Palestinian journalists and journalists covering the plight of the people in occupied Palestine will continue to be brutalized. Journalism and a free press is an essential component to a well-functioning democratic regime, as its absence creates conditions that leave victims in the dark and hold brutal nation-states unaccountable.
Abu Akleh’s funeral was held on May 13th in East Jerusalem, where she was buried next to her mother. According to the New York Times, it is the largest Palestinan funeral in recent memory. Israel’s riot police attacked mourners carrying her coffin. Police attempted to justify their attack by pointing at an alleged agreement that was broken to carry Abu Akleh’s body in a hearse. This is just another attempt to repress the narrative. They did not want the world to see her being carried through the street.
This story should agitate all of us, but especially those of us that are journalists. “I chose journalism to be close to people,” Abu Akleh once claimed in a television segment. “It might not be easy to change the reality, but at least I could bring their voice to the world.” When Abu Akleh was murdered, a precious voice for an actualized free Palestine was murdered. A lack of accountability for Israel’s actions, including by the United States, continues to reaffirm to the rest of the world that human rights and a free press will only ever apply to some.
The murder of a journalist with impunity must never be overlooked. As a young journalist, I mourn the truth-seeking that she undeniably embodied. I mourn the deep love and commitment she had for her people. We owe it to Abu Akleh as well as all journalists slain in cold blood to continue to place humanity at the center of our work in a principled quest for truth and justice.
Image by Ahmed Abu Hameeda the Unsplash License.
