Israel’s Military Police Say They Will Not Investigate Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

A Haaretz report has said that Israeli military police will not be investigating the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The article is unsourced but postulates two possible reasons for the decision. On the one hand, it may be that military prosecutors do not deem the killing to have involved any criminal misconduct. However, it also speculated that the Israeli government might want to avoid the inevitable backlash that would result from the interrogation of IDF soldiers. The problem with this explanation is that US officials, such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have adamantly demanded an independent investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh, who held US citizenship. Witnesses say the shot was a result of Israeli sniper fire but initial probes by the IDF said that while this could be the case, the killing could also have been a result of indiscriminate shooting from Palestinian gunmen. The Palestinian Authority has refused to launch a joint investigation with Israel into the killing, citing its lack of trust in the Israeli government. Meanwhile, a Dutch-based research group, Bellingcat, used both Israeli and Palestinian footage to analyze the shooting, concluding that the IDF was most likely responsible. Nevertheless, without the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, and a detailed ballistics report, culpability may remain elusive.