Palestinian Authority (PA) has rejected the Israeli government’s offer for a joint probe into the death of an Al Jazeera journalist who died of a gunshot wound yesterday. Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on Wednesday while reporting from the Palestinian city of Jenin, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) stronghold.
Hours after the shooting, Israel offered to conduct a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authorities (PA). “Israel has called on the Palestinians to conduct a joint pathological analysis and investigation, which would be based on all of the existing documentation and findings, in order to get to the truth,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement on Wednesday.
The initial Israeli investigation points to Palestinian gunmen who were seen firing at the scene. “According to the information we have gathered, it appears likely that armed Palestinians — who were firing indiscriminately at the time — were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist,” the Israeli prime minister added.
While PA chief Mahmoud Abbas threatened to take Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Palestinians hastily buried the body of the slain journalist — further complicating a possible forensic investigation. “Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas said he will go to the ICC to “punish the criminals” as her body travels from Ramallah in the West Bank to Jerusalem where she will be buried,” the newspaper Israel Hayom reported Wednesday.
Initial news coverage hinted at talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials over a joint probe, but media reports today confirm that the PA has rejected Jerusalem’s offer. “A top Palestinian official announced Thursday that the Palestinian Authority will not transfer the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to a ballistic inspection in Israel, despite Jerusalem’s call for a joint investigation of the incident,” the Israeli news website Ynet reported Thursday.
Israeli TV channel i24News reported the PA’s response:
[O]n Thursday, an Israeli proposal for a joint investigation was rejected by the PA, as its President Mahmoud Abbas urged that Israeli forces were “fully responsible” for the incident.”We rejected the joint investigation with the Israeli occupation authorities because they committed the crime and because we don’t trust them,’ said Abbas, adding that he will go to the International Criminal Court “in order to track down the criminals”.
Jenin, a focus of recent Israeli counter-terrorism operations, is home to several Palestinian terrorists who carried out a series of attacks that killed at least 19 Israelis since mid-March.
While Palestinians reject an investigation and muddy the waters, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released bodycam footage showing its troops coming under heavy gunfire where the indecent took place. During the said incident, “dozens of armed terrorists opened fire, firing heavily and throwing explosives at our forces, who returned fire,” the IDF said in a statement on its website.
Before all the facts could come to light, anti-Israeli trolls and activists flooded the social media with baseless allegations and blood libel accusations. Democratic “Squad” members, congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, were among the first to blame Israel for the Al Jazeera reporter’s death without mentioning the role of Palestinian terrorists who started the gunfire.
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