Foreign
‘They Silenced Her’: The Fight For Justice For Shireen Abu Akleh
Abu Akleh, 51, had worked for Al Jazeera since 1997
Family members, colleagues and lawyers explain why they are pursuing justice for the veteran journalist.
The Hague, Netherlands – On a cloudy Tuesday morning Al Jazeera submitted the results of a six-month investigation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of a formal request to investigate the killing of veteran Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces.
On May 11, Abu Akleh and her colleagues were fired upon by Israeli forces in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. They were wearing protective helmets and vests clearly marked “Press”.
Abu Akleh’s dedicated coverage of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories had given a voice to Palestinians and made her a household name in the Arab world. She was 51 years old when she was killed.
Abu Akleh’s family members and former colleagues, lawyers and members of press freedom and rights organisations had gathered in The Hague to call on the ICC to hold those responsible for her killing accountable – and to take on a case that many believe has implications for the future of Palestinian journalists.
‘Time to take action’
Speaking at a press conference held shortly after the request had been submitted to the ICC, Lina, Abu Akleh’s niece, said her family supported the network’s request for an investigation.
Al Jazeera, where Abu Akleh worked for 25 years, was “like her second family” said Lina.
“It’s past time for justice for Shireen and for every Palestinian that has been killed by the Israeli army,” she said.
“The evidence is overwhelmingly clear. It’s time for the ICC to take action.”
Speaking at the same press conference, Rodney Dixon KC, a lawyer for Al Jazeera who investigated Abu Akleh’s killing and submitted the dossier of findings to the ICC, said her death was the culmination of other attacks on Al Jazeera and its journalists, including the bombing of the network’s Gaza offices in May 2021.
The evidence points to a “wider pattern and policy” to silence the network in Palestine, said Dixon.
“So there’s … no reason to say this is only an isolated incident and not one for the ICC,” he explained.
“And that’s why we are asking the prosecutor to look both at crimes against humanity and war crimes,” he added.
‘A line drawn’
Lina, who wore a badge with Abu Akleh’s picture on it, told the packed press conference that she wanted to know not only who had shot her aunt but “who was involved in the chain of command that allowed them to kill my aunt”.
Dixon stressed that the prosecution must go up the chain of command and also look at those who oversaw or failed to prevent Abu Akleh’s killing. It would serve as a deterrence, he said, so that perpetrators will know they cannot get away with such acts. “There has to be a line drawn,” he told Al Jazeera.
Israel has shifted its narrative on the killing of Abu Akleh, initially blaming a Palestinian gunman, before months later saying there is a “high possibility” she was “accidentally hit” by Israeli fire. Israel says it will not launch a criminal investigation.
“No one will interrogate IDF soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals of combat, certainly not the Al Jazeera Network,” Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Tuesday, using the acronym for the Israeli armed forces.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz expressed condolences to the Abu Akleh family and said Israel’s military operates at “the highest standards”.
Shortly after the request was submitted to the ICC, the United States, which in November announced an FBI probe into Abu Akleh’s killing, said it rejected the move and opposed an ICC investigation.
“The ICC should focus on its core mission. And that core mission is of serving as a court of last resort in punishing and deterring atrocity crimes,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
‘We need to protect ourselves’
For Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau chief and a longtime colleague of Abu Akleh who called her a friend and a sister, the pursuit of justice for Abu Akleh is also about protecting other journalists.
“We need to protect ourselves because they will continue,” he told the press conference. “Our issue here, our case, is not against the soldier who pressed the trigger. It’s a systematic policy, that they continue shooting and attacking journalists.”
Israel could not keep acting as though it was “above international law,” he added.
Abu Akleh and the other journalists shot at that morning were “walking just to do their job,” he said.
Before the press conference, he described how her death had left a “huge gap”. Many mornings at 7.30am, when he arrives at the bureau – where people frequently come to mourn Abu Akleh and leave flowers – he finds her colleagues crying, al-Omari explained.
Safety of journalists
Frane Maroevic, the executive director of the International Press Institute (IPI), told the press conference that the IPI welcomed the submissions by Al Jazeera and Abu Akleh’s family to the ICC.
He reflected on how her killing had sent shockwaves across the international journalism community and press freedom organisations.
Maroevic pointed out that, according to UNESCO, at least 18 Palestinian journalists have been killed since 2002, with many more attacked or had their equipment destroyed. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Information, since 2000, at least 45 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces.
“Authorities are legally bound under international law and human rights law to ensure the safety of journalists, even in situations of conflict, and a deliberate attack on a journalist can constitute even a war crime,” he said.
Reporters Without Borders also called for the ICC to take action.
“Shireen’s murder is not the first case of a journalist targeted by IDF. We fear it is not the last one as long as justice is not served – independent, impartial, effective justice,” Antoine Bernard, the director of advocacy and assistance at Reporters Without Borders, told the audience.
A lack of justice in Palestine means a “blank cheque” for crime repetition, he later explained to Al Jazeera.
“It is absolutely key that crimes against journalists be countered by independent effective justice. A justice that is done, and seen to be done.”
‘Everybody will know there is justice’
Standing alongside his daughter Lina, a badge with his sister’s picture pinned to the lapel of his grey, wool coat, Anton said that it was an important day for the family, which had submitted a complaint to the ICC in September. “We are seeking every legal action we are capable of to pursue justice and accountability for Shireen,” said the older brother of Abu Akleh.
Justice is important, he added, as his sister had devoted her life to reporting on the abuses endured by Palestinians under Israeli occupation. “She was silenced because the Israeli army doesn’t want these reports to come out. They silenced her,” he explained. “And by taking justice, by holding the Israeli army accountable for their crimes, everybody will know that there is justice served in the world.”
Speaking a couple of days before Al Jazeera submitted its ICC request, seated in the ground floor café of a hotel, a World Cup match playing in the background, Lina recounted how as a young girl she would practice her aunt’s sign-offs with her Barbie phone. The sense of justice that Abu Akleh instilled in her is what Lina says motivates her to press on today.
“What keeps me going, is knowing that she would have done the same if it was any other family member, friend, colleague. She would have tirelessly fought for justice, because she was optimistic, always, that justice will prevail.
“… This is why we are here. It is the least we can do for Shireen,” she added.
Source: Al Jazeera
Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.
Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:
Latest updates and human impact
- Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
- This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
- Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
- The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
- The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.
Diplomacy
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
- The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
- Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
- Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.
West Bank raids and violence
- Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
- Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
- The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
- The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
- Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
- “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.
Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023
Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.
The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.
The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.
Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.
Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.
As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.
Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.
Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.
UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.
Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.
Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.
“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.
Abhorrent. This is a call to commit a war crime by @yoavgallant. The @IntlCrimCourt should take note.
Quote by @OmarSShakir ⤵️ https://t.co/kKVo6YtpI1 pic.twitter.com/neHQMwnXVn
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) October 9, 2023
Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.
“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.
Grotesque. These threatened acts would amount to flagrant war crimes by Hamas’ armed wing. The @IntlCrimCourt will be watching.
Quote from @OmarSShakir ⤵️ https://t.co/FuNtvHe0YG pic.twitter.com/6cnHODLWyZ
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) October 9, 2023
On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.
Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.
The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.
Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.
US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023
Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.
After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.
He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”
Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.
The world is seeing appalling images.
Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli cities. Hamas terrorists killing not only Israeli soldiers, but civilians on the streets and in their homes.
It’s unconscionable. Israel has a right to defend itself – full stop.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 7, 2023
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”
Accusations of Western ‘double standards’
Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.
The world is seeing appalling images.
Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli cities. Hamas terrorists killing not only Israeli soldiers, but civilians on the streets and in their homes.
It’s unconscionable. Israel has a right to defend itself – full stop.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 7, 2023
Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.
Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.
https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.
https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”
The hypocrisy and double standards of western governments and media platforms dealing with situations in Ukraine-Russia and Palestine-Israel blow the mind. Absolute disgrace.
— Said Yacoubi (@AlyacoubiSaid) October 8, 2023
It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.
Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.
“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.
Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:
“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”
Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”
Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.
https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.
Just to clarify:
Palestine did not mount an attack on Israel. An Iranian proxy militia did. Palestinians are by and large huddled in their homes praying that an Israeli airstrike won't kill them or theirs. Hamas is the culprit here. This isn't a decentralized grassroots thing.
— Romeo Kokriatski (@VagrantJourno) October 9, 2023
Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.
Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.
After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.
Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.
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