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"Israel" is clearly responsible for the murder of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. However, many Western media outlets are still having a hard time figuring out how to do their jobs, allowing the US government to get away with saying they trust Tel Aviv “to conduct a thorough, comprehensive investigation.”

It may almost sound self-explanatory as to why the ones accused of murder should not be trusted to honestly investigate themselves, but since "Israel" is a special case for Western nations and their complicit media, it’s crucial we go through the main points as to why "Israel" cannot be trusted.

On the day that Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered, US State Department Spokesperson, Ned Price, stated that “clearly Israeli authorities have the wherewithal to conduct a thorough, comprehensive investigation.” Despite pushback from journalists who doubted the claims made by Price, including an example given to back up his claim that "Israel" can be trusted to investigate itself, the US government has stuck to this position. With "Israel" now announcing that it will not investigate the issue at all, it’s now a foregone conclusion that the belief the Biden administration claimed to have had in accountability won’t be delivered by the Israeli authorities.

In the event that "Israel" is pressured to conduct its own investigation, it is crucial we understand why it would be naive to suggest any real justice or accountability will come. In order to understand this, we have to go back to the day of Shireen’s brutal murder.

The announcement of Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder, on the morning of May 11, sent shockwaves throughout, not only all of Palestine, but the wider world too. Al-Jazeera reported that its senior correspondent had been killed by Israeli gunfire during their storming of the Jenin refugee camp. Every eye-witness, which mainly consisted of professional journalists on site, said the same thing, Israeli occupation forces were responsible for not only shooting Shireen, but injuring her producer in the back and firing on others who attempted to attend to the dead and injured as well.

Due to Shireen being a Palestinian icon, a Christian, and an American citizen, it is clear that the news of her killing was terrible optics for the Israeli regime, triggering the first big lie from "Tel Aviv". Like clockwork, the Israeli official Foreign Ministry’s social media pages, paid propagandists, and public officials released a video of Palestinian resistance fighters opening fire on Israeli forces, falsely claiming that this potentially proved Palestinians killed Shireen Abu Akleh. Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, then released a statement on the issue, claiming also that it was most likely “Palestinian terrorists” who killed Shireen.

On that same day, "Israel’s" top human rights organization, B’Tselem, sent an investigative team into the Jenin camp to analyze the regime's claims, clearly demonstrating that the video the Zionist propagandists were sharing was nowhere near the site of the killing. Not only this, no Palestinian resistance fighters were exchanging fire with Israeli occupation forces at the time of Shireen’s murder, nor were there any resistance forces in range to shoot Shireen and the other journalists. A CNN investigation into the incident has now concluded that not only was it Israeli soldiers that killed Shireen, but that this was a targeted killing. Another investigation from Bellingcat also concluded that Israeli soldiers were responsible for Shireen’s murder.

Israeli media, bots, and paid propagandists also began to deflect blame by pointing to the Palestinian Authority (PA), having refused the idea of participating in a joint investigation with the Zionist regime. The Israeli claim was that due to the PA’s refusal to take part in such an investigation, this indicated Palestinian guilt, which was of course a disingenuous argument. The PA stated that it refused to join in on "Israel’s" investigation of itself, deciding instead to transfer the case directly to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and didn’t believe the occupation army to be fit to investigate itself.

The following day, "Israel" changed its language, stating that it would consider the possibility that its own forces may have been responsible due to a possible mistake, which seemed to ensure the apartheid regime’s supporters that the investigation would go ahead. Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces had raided Shireen’s family home, arrested her brother, and interrogated others.

On the Friday following Shireen’s murder, a funeral procession was attended by thousands of mourners in Al-Quds. Israeli occupation forces decided to attack the funeral viciously, even assaulting the pallbearers of Shireen’s coffin. As if this wasn’t already enough disrespect, the official Israeli police twitter page published cut and doctored footage that falsely showed Palestinians hurling objects at Israeli forces. These videos were debunked, and when footage of the incident is paired together with the Israeli doctored footage, it is clear that Palestinians were attacked first and were not throwing objects.

If the above information is not enough for you to question the reliability of the Israeli authorities, then let’s take a look at "Israel’s" track record. "Israel" has killed over 45 journalists since 2000, the last high profiled Israeli murder of a Palestinian journalist clearly marked in a press vest, occurred in the Gaza Strip in 2018. The journalist, Yasser Murtaja, was shot dead by an Israeli sniper whilst covering non-violent demonstrations. Did "Israel" launch an independent investigation resulting in accountability? Nope. Israeli officials and the argument presented by the occupation military was that Yasser was a “terrorist” and that he was flying a drone over the heads of Israeli forces to take photos. Neither of these claims was true. In fact, there was no accountability for the murder of over 300 unarmed Palestinians who were murdered during non-violent demonstrations in Gaza during 2018-19.

The last time "Israel" sent one of its soldiers to prison for murdering a Palestinian was in 2018. The soldier in question was named Elor Azaria, who became an Israeli hero; he executed an unconscious Palestinian man in the city of Al-Khalil. The entire incident was filmed, causing international outrage. Due to the conclusivity of the footage, there was no way to escape the fact that Azaria was responsible for murder. However, "Israel" didn’t sentence Azaria with murder, but instead manslaughter. To make things worse, the Israeli occupation soldier's sentence was lowered by four months, from 18 to 14 months. He was released after only 9 months and to a hero’s welcome from Israeli society, receiving donations from fundraisers and being offered free drinks and holidays. Azaria is now reportedly living a life of luxury, not exactly proof that the Zionist regime punishes its forces for murdering defenseless Palestinians.

Furthermore, "Israel" has stated that it will not conduct its own investigation at all, using the justification that such an investigation that will treat its forces as criminal suspects will cause too much tension in Israeli society. To make things even worse, "Israel" also says that if one of its soldiers did murder Shireen Abu Akleh, they would not be considered to have committed any criminal misconduct. In fact, a European delegation seeking to discuss Shireen’s case, which headed for Al-Quds, was blocked by the Zionist regime. 

Given all of this, what was "Israel" and its paid propagandists' final line of defense? Anti-Semitism. That’s right, anyone outraged by the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and the lack of accountability for those that were involved in murdering her is simply racist against Jews according to Zionist apologists. This argument admits "Israel’s" guilt but attempts to argue that many other journalists have been killed over the years and that the special focus on Shireen’s murder means that those calling for justice are anti-Semites.

All eye-witnesses, independent investigations, and analyses point to "Israel’s" culpability in the case of Shireen’s murder, not just indicating that an Israeli occupation soldier fired the bullet that killed the Palestinian-American veteran-journalist, but also that this was a targeted killing. "Israel" is responsible for the murder of Shireen and must be held accountable.