One Year Later, the Death of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh Still a Source of Pain

Her friends and colleagues are angry that no one has been charged or held responsible for the killing of the veteran Al Jazeera journalist, who was shot dead while reporting on an Israeli army raid in the Jenin refugee camp

One year after veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, most likely by an Israeli soldier, while reporting on an Israeli army raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, her death remains a deep source of shock and pain for many of her friends and colleagues.

Walid Al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Jerusalem and Ramallah, says Abu Akleh’s absence has left a huge gap that is difficult to bridge.

“For journalism in general, the women’s press movement, and the Al Jazeera news network, our loss is great,” Al-Omari said.

Abu Akleh, an experienced and well-known Palestinian-American TV correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, was reporting on the raid while wearing a clearly marked press vest and helmet when she was shot and killed on May 11, 2022. She was 51 years old. An international uproar followed her death, with several investigations, including by the Israeli military, concluding that she was most likely killed by Israeli gunfire. Some sources claimed that she was deliberately targeted; the IDF maintains that if she was indeed shot by Israeli soldiers, it was a mistake. No one has been charged or disciplined over the killing.

There is a great danger if justice is not done over Abu Akleh’s death, Al-Omari told The Media Line.

When we say justice for Shireen, we mean first that the killers and those behind them should be held accountable. Secondly, protection should be provided to journalists in general, Al Jazeera’s journalists, and the Palestinians. Third, because we do not want the new, rising generation to lose faith in international legitimacy and international justice.

“When we say justice for Shireen, we mean first that the killers and those behind them should be held accountable,” he said. “Secondly, protection should be provided to journalists in general, Al Jazeera’s journalists, and the Palestinians. Third, because we do not want the new, rising generation to lose faith in international legitimacy and international justice.”

Al-Omari accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists.

“This occupation [the term used by Palestinians to refer to Israeli rule] chose to break the mirror that reflects its bad deeds and behavior, instead of trying to improve its treatment of the Palestinians,” he said.

In December, the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television network filed a formal request to the International Criminal Court to act against Israeli forces over Abu Akleh’s killing.

The network claims that her “deliberate killing” was “part of a wider campaign to target and silence Al Jazeera.”

Israel never will deliberately attack or, God forbid, try to kill reporters. It has never been our policy. It is not our value.

Israel maintains that its forces do not intentionally target journalists. The IDF declined to respond to The Media Line’s request for an interview, and neither the offices of the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen nor Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would answer questions. However, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was prime minister at the time of Abu Akleh’s death, told foreign reporters in Jerusalem last week: “Israel never will deliberately attack or, God forbid, try to kill reporters. It has never been our policy. It is not our value. The government has already talked about this.”

But Nour Odeh, a friend and former colleague of Abu Akleh’s, disputed this.

“Israel has made an art form out of lying and twisting truths,” Odeh told The Media Line. “The targeted killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is undisputed. Evidence, forensic evidence, corroborates this conviction, not just by those who lived through those difficult and brutal moments with Shireen, but also by all the journalists and all independent sources who investigated her murder.

There is substantial evidence that she was murdered, targeted along with her colleagues, and yet there’s no justice, there’s no accountability, and that doesn’t seem to be on its way to change

“There is substantial evidence that she was murdered, targeted along with her colleagues, and yet there’s no justice, there’s no accountability, and that doesn’t seem to be on its way to change.”

Odeh said Abu Akleh’s killing was a “source and a cause for more pain.”

Although the US investigated the killing, it never held Israel fully responsible.

“We have to remember that Shireen was a US citizen, and the US involvement so far has been nothing short of disappointing,” Odeh said. “It has let down its own citizen, it has not sought accountability and justice for Shireen, and unfortunately that was expected, it is in line with previous US actions toward other US citizens who have been killed in cold blood by Israel over the decades.”

Journalist Aqil Awawda told The Media Line that nothing had changed since Abu Akleh’s death.

“On the contrary, justice was not achieved for Shireen. There are challenges facing us Palestinian journalists from the field covering the occupation, which often targets us,” Awawda said. “The Palestinian reality is completely different from others. … [Palestinian journalists] are often targeted and often have no freedom of movement.”

Abu Akleh was a role model for many aspiring Palestinian journalists and schoolchildren, and her office has become something of a shrine.

Al-Omari said a group of hearing-impaired schoolchildren came in with handmade artwork to say thank you in sign language in appreciation of Abu Akleh.

“Shireen remains with us, her good memory,” he said. “We still keep her office, which will be transferred to a museum that the Al Jazeera network and the Municipality of Ramallah are working on, which will be an interactive institution to teach Shireen’s biography, the importance of journalism, and how bias toward the truth is the most important.”