On Monday the State Department welcomed Israel’s belated admission that its forces killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh nearly 4 months ago, and the statement went on that the U.S. must “underscore the importance of accountability in this case, such as policies and procedures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.”
That statement was promptly denounced by Rep. Marie Newman of Chicago:
The [State Department’s] response to Israel’s statement refusing to prosecute the soldiers responsible for killing Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh is woefully inadequate. I expect nothing short of a US investigation that leads to accountability. It’s the least we can do.
And at the State Department briefing yesterday, two reporters, Matt Lee of AP and Said Arikat of Al-Quds, said that is no accountability at all, and the Biden administration is letting Israel get away with “gunn[ing] her down in the street.”
Here are some of Matt Lee’s comments:
This is an American citizen who was killed. You have called for accountability, and yet there does not seem to be any accountability there.
Vedant Patel of State then repeated the phrase that the U.S. “underscores the importance of accountability.” Lee mocked him:
That doesn’t mean anything. I mean, I continue to underscore the fact that it’s important that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but – and which it does. But there is – do you consider that – do you believe that Israel has taken steps to hold whoever is responsible for her death accountable?
What does accountability mean to this administration?
[Patel says the U.S. is “pressing Israel to closely review its policies and practices to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”]
Okay. But that’s not what accountability is, unless you guys have a different definition of it than the dictionary does. So what does accountability mean for this administration? An apology? We’re sorry. It happened maybe – it looks like it happened by accident. But it won’t happen again. That’s the – that’s what accountability is, or is it something more?
Reviewing their practices and policies does not mean accountability for this woman’s death, does it? Maybe it does in your view. I don’t know. You tell me.
Said Arikat then took up the questioning and pointed out that Israel won’t even identify who killed her.
“The Israelis obviously know who the solider is and they said basically they are not going to press any charges. There will be no accountability, and that’s the Israelis’ statement that you have supported. There will be no accountability. So how is that – how does that juxtapose with – you talk about the family and your thoughts are with them, all this good stuff. But how are they going to receive accountability or justice in this case?…
And hypothetically if this had happened elsewhere, would your position be the same? If an American journalist was killed, let’s say, somewhere else, in another democratic country, that the police gunned her down in the street, let’s say in India or elsewhere. Would your position be the same, in your opinion?
Arikat said that the U.S. passivity has allowed Israel to do this again and again.
You know what? It happened right after Shireen Abu Akleh – there were two journalists that have been killed. It happened time and again. There are 21 Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons and so on. The Israelis are killing kids every day, teenagers and so on. So I don’t know when you say that we’ve talked to them at the highest level – I mean, do they heed your call? Do they listen to you? Or they just pretend that you’re not saying anything?
It must be noted that Shireen Abu Akleh’s family rejects the Israeli statement on her death and calsls for pressure on the Biden administariotn.
We continue to call on the many members of Congress, civil society organizations, journalists, and the public to keep the pressure on President Biden and Secretary Blinken to follow through with meaningful action. Since Israel is incapable of holding themselves accountable…”
Arikat and Lee are listening.
This press briefing is remarkable not just for the fact that reporters are refusing to accept D.C. propaganda about an Israeli killing, but that Arikat and others also took up the issue of the new Israeli requirement that visitors to the West Bank report romantic relationships and the issue of Israel trying to shut down seven Palestinian human rights groups. Israel was a main controversial topic.
So Israel is becoming a hot potato in a mainstream forum. And all these issues will cause further outrage among progressives (and feed the young Jewish disaffection from Zionism.)
h/t Michael Arria.
Also, Senator Chris Van Hollen calls for U.S. investigation:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/shireen-abu-aqleh-us-senator-rejects-israeli-army-report
Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator for Maryland, repeated his call for an independent US investigation into Abu Aqleh’s killing in the West Bank in May, saying that the United Nations and reconstructions by major news outlets found that the Al Jazeera television journalist was not in the immediate vicinity of fighting with Palestinian militants and could not have been caught in the crossfire….“The crux of the ‘defense’ in this IDF [Israel Defence Forces] report is that a soldier was ‘returning fire’ from militants” when Abu Aqleh was struck, Van Hollen tweeted. “But investigations … found no such firing at the time. This underscores need for independent US inquiry into this American journalist’s death.”
Do CNN, MSNBC, BBC, ALJAZEERA, ABC, CBS, NBC, Newyork Times, Washington Post attend this State Department briefing?!
It’s a sad commentary on the barely-breathing BDS movement that Palestinians must now rely on Matt Lee of AP for liberation.
There is nothing, simply nothing, to stop thousands of students and others from descending on their city councils with demands for big loud resolutions to cut off US aid to Israel. Or at least to boycott Israel and divest from Israel – like we used to do with Apartheid South Africa. So where the hell is this BDS “movement” exactly?
Here is one example of a BDS resolution that you can take to your own City Council:
https://www.change.org/p/ann-arbor-michigan-city-council-ann-arbor-city-council-resolution-against-military-aid-to-israel
Even Mondoweiss staff can do this in the New York City Council.
Campus BDS resolutions are great, but to get more media publicity, there is nothing like BDS in City Councils and in the US Congress. If the Congressional “Squad” members were worth a damn they would be calling press conferences for major BDS resolutions in Congress.
This isn’t an example of someone providing information on the current administration’s plan to obtain actual accountability for the targeted killing of an American civilian. This is simply the administration reassuring us that the US will never do anything tangible to bring justice when Israel is the perpetrator. All I hear is “we continue to press our Israeli partners…,” “we continue to engage with our Israeli partners…,” and “we expect from Israel….”, all the while knowing full well that there will be exactly zero consequence to Israel if they don’t take the US’s tepid requests seriously. And who only takes direction from the accused guilty party in this type of situation? Where is the input from your Palestinian partners? Lapid already told the US that no one will dictate the rules of engagement when it’s Israelis that are “fighting for our lives.” Of course, to many Israelis, unarmed journalists are undoubtedly a threat to Israeli life and must be viewed as an “existential threat.” How shameful that the US administration prioritizes not making Israel uncomfortable for the intentional killing of an American citizen over justice for that same American and her family. Reminds me of the USS Liberty incident.
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From Canada:
IJV Supports the NDP’s Bold Policy on Palestine – Independent Jewish Voices Canada (ijvcanada.org) Sept. 6/2022
“Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) commends a recent strong shift in the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) which has seen it publicly making bolder calls for justice & peace in Israel-Palestine. Party leader Jagmeet Singh has circulated an email to his supporters which outlines 13 strong demands that the NDP is making on the Liberal government. These demands include accepting the recommendations of human rights reports which have found that Israel is practicing apartheid against Palestinians, bringing the case of the slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the International Criminal Court, & ending arms sales & trade with illegal settlements until Israel complies with international law. IJV fully supports all these demands, & we are encouraged by such a strong shift in the NDP at a time when it is needed the most in Palestine.
“This new policy shift is a clear example that the party is responding to its membership base, which overwhelmingly supports Palestinian human rights. In April 2021, NDP members voted by a strong majority to support the “Palestine Policy” at the party’s policy convention. Points from this policy are directly reflected in Singh’s email & statements to the media on Palestine. Moreover, recent opinion polls suggest that a majority of Canadians (beyond just NDP supporters) want the government to be doing more to support Palestinian human rights.
“In the last few years, many NDP members of parliament have been courageous & unafraid to declare their support for Palestinian liberation & their opposition to Israeli apartheid. Several NDP MPs have signed IJV’s Together Against Apartheid pledge, including NDP House Leader Peter Julian, Leah Gazan (Winnipeg-Centre), Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre), Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni) & Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski). Several others have made statements explicitly calling out Israeli apartheid in recent months.(Cont’d)