Finally. The New York Times today was shamed into publishing an investigation into who killed the distinguished Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh — nearly 6 weeks after she died, and also after other news organizations, including the Associated Press, CNN, and the Washington Post, had reported on their own probes.
The belated Times article is an improvement after its weeks of silence, but is still inadequate. The paper did conclude that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh “was fired from the approximate position of an Israeli military vehicle.” But the Times did not sufficiently remind its readers how Israel had immediately muddied the story within hours by asserting, with no evidence, that “Palestinian gunmen” were responsible.
The article did include a revealing statement, buried down in paragraph 43, which reported that “Israeli officials. . . on Friday said that they had added a more senior investigator to their [Israel’s] own investigating team.” Let’s translate this into English: “Israeli officials, responding reluctantly to the Times’s request for comment a few days ago, said they would recognize the paper’s influence by pretending to strengthen their own (non-existent) investigation by claiming to ‘add a more senior’ person to it — a step that had apparently slipped their minds over the past 6 weeks.”
Today’s Times report is only a starting point. Why didn’t its reporters use the sources (that they presumably have) inside Israel’s military to at least speculate about what really happened? How could such accurate shots have been an accident? Who might have ordered the shooting? Who is behind the ongoing cover-up?
There’s more. The Times says it “was unable to determine whether the shooter saw that she [Abu Akleh] and her colleagues were wearing protective vests emblazoned with the word Press.” The paper is being deliberately naive. Just after she was killed, Gregg Carlstrom, a Mideast reporter for the (conservative) Economist, tweeted:
I’ve been to enough of these things [Israeli military operations in occupied Palestine] to say it’s rather hard to mistake a journalist — unarmed, in a blue vest and civilian clothes — for an armed soldier in olive drab. I’ve seen Shireen kitted out in a vest and helmet. Can’t imagine anyone mistaking her for a soldier.
The paper does say, briefly, that “[Israeli] soldiers accused of crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank are rarely convicted,” but this vague statement also cries out for more detail.
Here’s a suggested followup angle for the Times. In 2004, Israeli soldiers, both serving and veterans, established an organization called Breaking the Silence, where they can tell the truth about human rights violations they witnessed in occupied Palestine. It may be unlikely that the paper will find anyone who was an eyewitness to the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. But surely some Israeli soldiers can tell Times reporters, understandably anonymously, about the military culture that caused her death. The Times has written about Breaking the Silence, so it knows where to find them.
Yesterday on CNN I watched Dana Bash interview Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s Energy Secretary, and Bash asked her about Biden visiting Saudi Arabia, despite the terrible murder of Jamal Khashoggi, mentioned he was cut up into pieces, and mentioned should he be doing so….it seems Dana Bash “forgot” to ask the Energy Secretary why Biden was visiting Israel too, considering they assassinated Shireen Abu Akleh, only recently, and she was an American, AND a journalist, which should have been outrageous to Dana Bash as a member of the media.
The perfect example of the zionist media, and how they always avoid questioning Israel’s crimes, as if it never happens.
Every member of the media walks on egg shells when it comes to our “dear ally”.
So it look like Crooked Bibi the War Criminal/Liar might be back to make a nuisance of himself in the world, bringing an end to the peace the world had for a while, not having to put up with his dramas and grandstanding.
“Israel Heads for 5th Election in 3 Years After Government Collapses, Officials SayThe move follows the defection of two coalition lawmakers, giving the opposition a majority in Parliament.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s governing coalition will vote to dissolve Parliament within the next week, bringing down the government and sending the country to a fifth election in three years, the prime minister’s office and two coalition officials said on Monday.
The decision throws a political lifeline to Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister who left office last June upon the formation of the current government, and whose party is currently leading in the polls.
It follows weeks of paralysis caused by the defection of two right-wing government lawmakers and frequent rebellions by three others, removing the coalition’s majority in Parliament and making it hard to govern.” NYT