Lawmakers call for investigation from Washington
A group of Democratic senators and representatives on Thursday called on their government to investigate the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank.
Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank.
AFP
Left-leaning U.S. lawmakers on Thursday tabled a bill to push the U.S. to conduct its own investigation into the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a move Biden has made no promises about. the moment.
The family of the star Al Jazeera journalist, who was shot and killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, traveled to Washington this week but did not get what they wanted. hoped for from American diplomacy. Elected officials from the left of the Democratic Party have thus announced the introduction of a bill which would authorize the American authorities to carry out their own investigation to determine the origin of the fatal shooting.
“We call on our colleagues to see this as a matter of freedom of the press,” elected Democrat Andre Carson told the press, “to put aside political politics around Israel and the Palestinians to see what it is: an attack targeting independent journalism and the murder of one of our compatriots”, he added, relatives of Shireen Abu Akleh at his side. The elected official also intends to introduce a text aimed at making an American investigation compulsory for any American journalist killed abroad.
The journalist “probably” victim of an Israeli bullet
The journalist’s family met with the head of American diplomacy in Washington on Tuesday to ask him to hold Israel to account, but Antony Blinken did not commit to launching an independent investigation. They traveled to Washington at the invitation of Antony Blinken after unsuccessfully attempting to meet President Joe Biden during his recent visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
American diplomacy had determined, on July 4 and on the basis of Israeli and Palestinian investigations, that Shireen Abu Akleh had “likely” been killed by fire from an Israeli position, without having reason to believe that her death was intentional. On Thursday, the elected Democrat Marie Newman strongly criticized the position of the State Department. “I am embarrassed, outraged, furious that there is no investigation, and intend to point the finger at the State Department, which is dragging its feet,” she said.
The parliamentarians recognized that their text had little chance of passing. A previous attempt via an amendment to a defense law having already failed. “Perhaps some of my colleagues, if they removed the word + Palestinian + in + American-Palestinian + so that his life counts, would support” the text, advanced the elected Rashida Tlaib of Palestinian origin.
AFP
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