The family of Palestinian journalist Shirín abu Aklé asks the US for “justice” and calls for a meeting with Biden

A niece of Abu Aklé highlights that the family has traveled to Washington due to Biden’s refusal to meet with them in Jerusalem

July 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The family of the American-Palestinian journalist Shirín abu Aklé, who was killed in May after being shot during an operation by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin, has asked the United States government for a “meaningful response” to calls for do justice in the case and have demanded a meeting with the president, Joe Biden, to discuss the event.

Lina abu Aklé, the journalist’s niece, who worked for the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera, stated after a meeting held on Tuesday with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that “although she has made some commitments on the assassination of Shirin, the Administration is still expected to respond meaningfully to calls for justice for Shirin.”

“Blinken has told us that he has a duty to protect all American citizens. We will hold him to that. Nothing short of an American investigation leading to real accountability is acceptable and we will not stop until no other American or Palestinian family have to suffer the same pain as us”, he stated through a series of messages published on his account on the social network Twitter.

“We have conveyed to Blinken how important it would be to meet with the President of the United States. A meeting with him would demonstrate to our family that the Shirin case is a priority for this Administration. Since he did not meet with us in Jerusalem, we have come to Washington. We need you to listen to us directly, “said Lina abu Aklé.

He also stressed that Blinken “has committed to transparency with the family from now on.” “We hope that we are consulted and kept informed of each step,” he has settled.

For his part, Blinken stressed that Abu Aklé’s “intrepid journalism” “earned him the respect of audiences around the world.” “I have expressed my deepest condolences and commitment to seek accountability for his tragic death,” he said on his Twitter account.

State Department spokesman Ned Price stressed at a press conference that Blinken has spoken “on several occasions” with Abu Aklé’s family and revealed that “in the most recent call, he invited the family to meet with him in Washington.” “The secretary deeply appreciates the opportunity to meet with Shirin’s family,” he explained.

“She was not only an American citizen, but a journalist whose courageous search for the truth earned her the deep respect of audiences around the world,” she stressed, while stressing that Blinken would take advantage of the meeting to “reiterate the priority ” of the United States on “accountability”. “It is something that we will continue to discuss with our Israeli and Palestinian partners as well,” she stressed.

The United States affirmed on July 4, after the examination carried out by its experts of the bullet that killed the journalist, that the projectile “probably” came from the positions of the Israeli Army, although it stressed that it was an “unintentional” shot. “It has not been possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origin of the bullet that killed the Palestinian-American journalist Shirín abú Aklé,” said Price himself.

In response, the Palestinian government rejected the US report, stating that the aim is “to hide the fact that an Israeli soldier committed the crime.” Thus, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the Israeli government “has responsibility for the crime” and regretted that the United States’ conclusions use “weak pretexts” to “allow the occupying country to evade its responsibility in the death of Abu Aklé” .

The conclusions of the independent investigation carried out by the United Nations Office for Human Rights on the death of the journalist coincide with the evaluation carried out by the Palestinian authorities and which point to the Israeli forces as being responsible for the death of the reporter.

The conclusions of the investigation also dismantle the narrative that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the vicinity of the position where the reporters were, as Israel pointed out at the time. The Israeli Army admitted several days later the possibility that the journalist died from a shot fired by her own forces, but always unintentionally.