American journalist
Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder on May 11, 2022, while she was covering an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation in the West Bank town of Jenin. The IDF said in September 2022, following a brief
investigation, that it was not possible to “unequivocally determine” the source of the gunfire, but there was a “high possibility” that Abu Akleh was “accidentally hit” by Israel.
In May 2023,
CPJ’s “Deadly Pattern” report showed that over 22 years, members of the IDF killed at least 20 journalists. Despite numerous IDF probes,
no one has ever been charged for these deaths. The systemic impunity has continued into the current war: the IDF has conducted no criminal investigations into any of at least 174 Palestinian and Lebanese journalists it has killed since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, even in cases where there is
significant evidence of a war crime.
“Failure to fully investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and 19 other journalists killed by Israel prior to her murder has effectively given Israel permission to silence hundreds more,” Ginsberg said.
The murder of Shireen Abu Akleh and subsequent cover-up where Israel initially denied having anything to do with it tells of a deliberate policy to hide the truth of their attitude to journalists covering events in Gaza and the West Bank as the IDF conducts the Zionist policy to ethnically cleanse Palestinian areas for settlers...and cover-up acts of violence by those settlers. There is a pattern of behaviour that tells of a deliberate policy of action.
