The family of Palestinian-American journalist Shirin abu Akle, who died in May after being shot during an operation by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin, has applauded the U.S. decision to investigate the incident.
«It is an important step towards accountability that brings the family closer to achieving justice for Shirin,» the family said in its statement, published by Lina abu Aklé, the journalist’s niece, via her Twitter account.
Thus, the journalist’s family expressed «hope» for the opening of the investigation and recalled that they have been asking Washington for this step «since the beginning». «It is what the United States should do when a US citizen dies abroad, especially when he dies at the hands of a foreign army, as is the case of Shirin,» he said.
In this regard, the journalist’s family, has shown its hope that the United States «will use all its investigative tools at its disposal to get answers about Shirin’s death and hold those responsible for this atrocity accountable.»
«We call on all parties to have evidence that responds to requests for investigation by the U.S. State Department and not to stand in the way of justice,» he said, before showing the willingness of Abu Akle’s family to «support the investigation.»
«We hope that this investigation by the U.S. will be truly independent, credible and thorough, that it will follow the evidence all the way up and down the chain of command,» he concluded.
The letter was published just hours after Israel’s Foreign Minister Benjamin Gantz unveiled that the investigation is a «mistake» and stressed that Israeli authorities refuse to cooperate with the inquiry.
Gantz stressed that the Israeli Army has already carried out an «independent professional investigation» which led the Israeli government to admit that it was possible that Abu Akle was killed by a shot fired by an Israeli soldier.
The journalist was shot dead on May 11 during an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank while working for the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera. The reporter was wearing a helmet and a vest identifying her as a journalist.
The findings of the independent investigation carried out by the United Nations Office for Human Rights into the journalist’s death coincide with the assessment made by the Palestinian authorities and point to Israeli forces as responsible for the reporter’s death.
The conclusions of the investigation carried out by the international organization also dismantle the narrative that there was activity of armed Palestinians in the vicinity of the position where the reporters were, as Israel pointed out at the time.
