The United States has expressed its opposition to the lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Qatari television network Al Jazeera against Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shirin abu Akle after being shot in the head during an operation by Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The U.S. State Department has announced that it is rejecting the move, hours after the request for an investigation was made public to the Hague-based court.
«We oppose it, in this case,» Department spokesman Ned Price said in response to questions from reporters at a briefing Tuesday.
«We maintain our longstanding objections to the ICC’s investigation of the Palestinian situation and the position that the ICC should focus on its core mission, which is to serve as a court of last resort to punish and deter atrocity crimes,» the spokesman said.
Al-Jazeera confirmed in a statement that it «will send the case of Shirin abu Akle’s death at the hands of Israeli occupation forces to the ICC in The Hague,» before indicating that the decision «comes six months after the brutal murder of Shirin abu Akle.»
He stressed that during this period «Al-Jazeera’s legal team has conducted a full and detailed investigation into the case and has found new evidence based on multiple witness statements, the examination of multiple video cuts and forensic evidence relating to the case».
The Hague Court later confirmed to CNN that it had received Al Jazeera’s application under Article 15 of the Rome Statute.
In response to the Qatari television network’s announcement, Israel’s outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid stressed via his Twitter account that «no one will interrogate IDF soldiers and no one will give lessons on combat ethics, definitely not Al-Jazeera.»
Along these lines, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz noted that he «regrets the death of Shirin abu Akle, but it must be remembered that it was clearly a combat incident that was investigated in the most rigorous and thorough way (by Israel)».
For his part, the Palestinian Authority spokesman, Nabil abu Rudeina, recalled that Palestine is a party to the ICC and that «every Palestinian has the right to go to the court to judge the Israeli occupation for crimes that violate international law».
The journalist was shot dead on May 11 during an Israeli military operation in Jenin, 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.
