Senate Democrats want US to be involved in Abu Akleh probe

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Around half of the Democrat Senators in the US Congress are calling for Washington to be directly involved in the investigation into last month's murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank.

"We believe that, as a leader in the effort to protect the freedom of the press and the safety of journalists, and given the fact that Ms. Abu Akleh was an American citizen, the US government has an obligation to ensure that a comprehensive, impartial, and open investigation into her shooting death is conducted - one in which all parties can have full confidence in the ultimate findings," the letter to US President Joe Biden read.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), even before reports regarding the letter emerged, started lobbying to block it using claims such as bias against the Israeli occupation. The lobbying group claimed that the circumstances of Abu Akleh's murder remained unclear while alleging that the senators' letter "implies both Israeli culpability and inability to conduct an objective, thorough investigation" of the murder.

Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen was the first to push for the US to take part in the probe, and his bid garnered the signatures of 22 other party members, as well as independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, making for 24 out of the Senate's 50 Democrats.

The letter comes as the Israeli occupation is adhering to deniability regarding Abu Akleh's murder and accusing the Palestinian Authorities of hindering the investigation. However, "Tel Aviv" is also taking on the same stance, refusing to hand over the suspected weapon Ramallah says was used to kill the journalist.

The US lawmakers have voiced skepticism toward the Israeli version of events, especially in light of one of Abu Akleh's colleagues saying the group of Al Jazeera journalists made sure to stand in front of an IOF convoy while wearing press jackets and helmets to indicate their journalist status.

The congressional letter also highlighted the various investigations conducted by media outlets, which found that the Israeli occupation forces were behind the murder. 

Investigations conducted by CNN, the New York Times, and The Washington Post have all found that the Israeli occupation was behind Abu Akleh's murder in one way or another. One thing all the outlets have in common is that the bullet that ended the life of a veteran journalist was fired from the direction of an IOF convoy that was in Jenin as part of an Israeli bid to terrorize the city's residents amid confrontations.

The Washington Post examined more than 60 videos, social media posts, and photos of the murder, conducted physical inspections of the area, and commissioned two independent acoustic analyses of the gunshots. The paper found that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli soldier in the convoy that was near her and her colleagues.

Eyewitnesses told CNN that the Israeli forces present on the same street fired, deliberately, at the journalist even though the entourage followed journalist protocol, making sure they were seen, as a group, before moving around. 

The New York Times, on the other hand, concluded that the bullet was "fired from the approximate location of the Israeli military convoy, most likely by a soldier from an elite unit."

In the wake of the various press investigations into the crime, "Israel" seems like it won't be conducting an investigation of its own into the murder - US lawmakers, the United Nations, and the international community on the other hand are demanding an |independent investigation.

Read more: Israeli MK justifies, encourages killing of journalists

The murder has been condemned over and over again by various countries and bodies, but the world is still standing idle while the Israeli occupation robs innocent Palestinians of their lives daily, and not a single independent nor international investigation has been launched into the matter.

While the Israeli occupation is trying to pin the blame on Palestinians for Abu Akleh's murder, the letter said that "[the media outlet investigations] concluded that there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from the location of the shooting at the time of Ms. Abu Akleh’s killing."

The letter was sent to Biden as his administration has only been encouraging the Israeli occupation to share evidence with the Palestinian Authority and vice versa instead of getting directly involved in the matter, while many sources have reported that Washington would not launch its own probe into the crime.