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In an exclusive interview with Medfeminiswiya, Antoun Abu Akleh, the brother of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed by an Israeli sniper on 11 May 2022, confirms that the family will resort to the judiciary in the near future to prosecute his sister’s killers and hold them accountable. They will do so despite the complex obstacles, which he also described as “sensitive”, preferring not to dive into them at the current time.
Antoun reaffirms that his family is thoroughly following up on the criminal investigation into the circumstances of Shireen’s assassination. This investigation was recently launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and aims to determine the circumstances of her assassination after the world witnessed her execution by an Israeli sniper’s bullet when the occupation forces were raiding the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
About this investigation, Antoun says, “We, as her family, are following this investigation and are still holding out hope that it will be effective and transparent. The reports that have come out so far, whether through the media or UN organizations or B'Tselem, all categorically prove that Israel is behind the assassination of my sister Shireen.”
He points out that every one of the reports and investigations that have come out so far have been based on facts and eyewitness reports from people who were present at the time and place of the assassination. It is also useful to recall here that all the visual material and journalistic investigations unanimously declare that Shireen’s assassination was at the hands of an Israeli sniper and was definitely premeditated.
A criminal investigation led by the FBI
At the end of 2022, the US Department of Justice notified the Israeli Ministry of Justice that the FBI had opened a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. A report by the American Axios website indicated that the FBI investigation into the activities of the Israeli occupation army in the West Bank “is an exceptional, maybe even unprecedented event.” It added, “The FBI investigation could lead to a US request to investigate the soldiers who were involved in the operation— a request Israel would almost certainly reject.”
“We, as her family, are following this investigation and are still holding out hope that it will be effective and transparent”
Later, the Israeli occupation Defense Minister Benny Gantz said, in his first comment on the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, that the US Department of Justice’s decision was “a grave mistake”. He also claimed that the Israeli army conducted an internal professional investigation and presented it to the US, saying, “I have made it clear to the US government that we support our soldiers and won’t cooperate with any external investigation. We won’t allow any interference in Israel’s internal affairs.”
For many months, the Israeli occupation authorities have been disavowing any responsibility for the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, rejecting all accusations that they deliberately targeted the Palestinian-American journalist. Shortly after she was assassinated, Israeli occupation authorities even claimed that it might have been Palestinian fire that caused her death, before backtracking and retracting this story.
Then, in September 2022, the Israeli occupation army published the results of its internal investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh, which announced that the Palestinian martyr had been killed “apparently by an accidental bullet fired by an Israeli soldier.”
The dossier is also with the International Criminal Court
To inquire further about the latest developments in the case, Medfeminiswiya spoke to the General Director of Al-Haq Shawan Jabarin who explained that they, as activists and experts, after the assassination of Shireen, “started to investigate, document, and collect evidence, and we issued a comprehensive report and publicly announced its results. We relied on modern scientific techniques, classified as the first of their kind in the Middle East, and have proven, with evidence, the truth behind the assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Shireen’s family used our report, as did Al-Jazeera and the lawyers who submitted their complaints and claims before the International Criminal Court.”
Concerning the latest updates of the investigation, Jabarin agrees that “the main new thing in this dossier is that the official US authorities carrying out the criminal investigation are looking into the assassination of Shireen as an American citizen. The investigation has been entrusted to the US Department of Justice, which means the FBI is involved, but as of now we don’t know any details regarding the course of the investigation or where it’s reached. However, high hopes are being pinned on it, and we know it’s moving forward because the relevant authorities have started to communicate with those connected to the crime, asking them a number of questions. It's clear, according to the analyses, that the American side, in different capacities, went to the scene of the crime in the Jenin camp.”
“As of now we don’t know any details regarding the course of the investigation or where it’s reached. However, high hopes are being pinned on it, and we know it’s moving forward”
At an earlier stage, Shireen Abu Akleh’s family, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, and Al-Jazeera, with whom Shireen worked for 25 years, called on the International Criminal Court to conduct an investigation into the circumstances of her assassination.
About the developments related to this court, Jabarin says, “We don’t know what point they’ve reached in their investigation, but analyses confirm that the court may slow the process down since the file is also being investigated by the American authorities. What may come into play here is the principle that the national judiciary is the one with original jurisdiction. But if that’s the case, then the main, or original, situation applies to the occupying state, but the occupation has closed the dossier and does not consider itself to have committed a crime in the first place. This is their normal course of action with crimes of premeditated murder and international crimes like war crimes and crimes against humanity, as these never receive serious responses and are not met with professional, independent investigations. The occupation is obviously able to conduct this investigation and reveal the truth, but it does not want to do that because the victim is a Palestinian.”
This Palestinian victim has a name, Shireen Abu Akleh, and she once said, “I chose journalism to be close to people. It might not be easy to change the reality, but at least I can bring their [Palestinians’] voices to the world… I am Shireen Abu Akleh.”
Today, hundreds of journalists from around the world are crying out: “We are Shireen Abu Akleh. We will not forget about Palestine. We will not forget about the justice that Shireen, Ghufran Warasneh, and other journalists who have been killed or are still detained by the occupation deserve.”
