New film refutes the US Israeli claim of killing journalists: NPR

A new documentary from the media outlet Zeteo questions the official position of the US government that the murder of the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli military attack in West Bank in May 2022 was a tragic mistake. The film, Who killed Shireen?Also claims to reveal the name of the Israeli soldier who killed them and claim that the bids administration intentionally alleviated its internal results to protect an important ally.

Abu Akleh, an experienced reporter from Al Jazera, was wearing a blue bottle jacket that was clearly marked with the “press” when she was shot by an Israeli soldier while covering an Israeli military operation in the city of Jenin in West Bank. Nobody was held accountable. At that time, the military Israel said in a high opportunity that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF shots that were fired against suspects who were shown as armed Palestinian armed men during a fire brigade, in which life-threatening, betting and insane shots were fired on IDF soldiers. “

In the documentary, a former official of the Biden Administration, whose voice is distorted to protect his identity, said a US test that initially came to the conclusion that Daniel Estrin from NPR spoke to the same former official who made the same claims. Investigative filmmaker and previous Wall Street Journal The correspondent Dion Nissenbaum was one of the executing producers of the film. He spoke to Morning edition Host Leila Fadel.

On what the documentary reported on the review of the Biden Administration:

“We were able to find an important US official who spoke to us who told us that the US personnel went to the city of Jenin, where shires were killed to find out what happened. And her initial assessment was that the Israeli soldier deliberately aimed at shirees.”

“This initial evaluation was essentially overridden by the Biden administration, and they came out and expressly said that it was unintentional.”

On the soldier, the documentary identifies as a shooter – and its confirmation process:

While the documentary calls the soldier, NPR does not do so because we have not confirmed its identity independently.

“He was a 20-year-old soldier who was in his first fight in West Bank. And we were able to track it down. And he was actually killed in Jenin last summer. So he was killed in the city in which he killed Shireen.”

“We confirmed it with Israeli soldiers who knew him and served with him. And we talked about it in detail with the Israeli military. The Israeli military, you know, rejects it.

About the importance of Abu Akleh's killing and how Israel and the occupied areas for journalists have become increasingly dangerous places:

((The committee to protect journalists (CPJ) Has named Over 176 journalists and media workers who have been killed in Gaza, West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the beginning of the Israel Gaza War. According to the CPJ, at least 17 of these journalists and two media employees were targeted directly by Israeli forces. CPJ classifies it as a murders.)

“In a way, her killing was the beginning of a trajectory for the Israeli military. In front of Shireen, Israel was never on the list of dangerous countries for journalists. And now, the committee to protect journalists, Israel is seen as the most dangerous country for journalists as journalists for journalists for journalists who are at the Gaza -Journalists appear.

The Israeli military denies that it intentionally aims journalists and claims that some of the journalists documented by CPJ are Hamas employees.

In response to the request from NPR on the claims of the documentary, the Israeli military sent this explanation:

“Zeteo has decided to publish the name of the IDF soldier that has fallen during an operational activity, although the family was not applied for not to publish the name, and although they were told that there was no final determination regarding the identity of the person who is responsible for the shooting that caused the death of the journalist.”

About whether the US policy may have led to more murders of Americans:

“As we find in the documentary, there are people like Senator Chris Van Hollen who believe that the failure of the Biden government, Israel to take into account and to make them change the way they operate, led to the death of other Americans in West Bank. The United States would have held account of Israel and made them change their engagement rules to tighten their work so that they do not open fire to unarmed civilians. “

What Nissenbaum hopes that the film will make:

“I hope that this will lead to some considerations of the Israeli military about the way they work in the western Jord facility for civilians and journalists. I hope that the US government will think about their own responsibility and try to seek justice for an American citizen who was killed by the Israeli military.

This story was produced by Milton Guevara for radio.