ELAINE PASQUINi
Al Jazeera Washington Bureau Chief Abderrahim Foukara (l) and Emily Wilkins of the National Press Club’s Board of Governors hold an event to honor slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in Washington, DC on May 12, 2022. (STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI)51111111111 Votes 5.00
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2022, pp. 61-62
Human Rights
THE KILLING of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper on May 11 has outraged journalists and human rights defenders around the world. The 51-year-old veteran correspondent for Al Jazeera was reporting on an early morning Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin when she was fatally shot.
Despite Israel’s claim of not targeting the journalist, Israel’s chief military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav told Army Radio that Abu Akleh and her colleague Ali al-Samoudi, who was shot in the back and is in stable condition, were “armed with cameras.” Both journalists were wearing helmets and vests clearly identifying them as members of the press when they were shot.
To honor Abu Akleh, the National Press Club in Washington, DC observed a minute of silence for her on May 12, after which Abderrahim Foukara, bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Washington, spoke briefly to reporters and friends of the slain journalist.
“Al Jazeera is clear in its position that the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh was an Israeli bullet,” Foukara said, calling for a “thorough, transparent and fair investigation.”
Al Jazeera, the bureau chief said, wants an end to impunity, not just for those involved in the killing of Abu Akleh, but for those involved in the killing or targeting of journalists anywhere.
Foukara reiterated the words of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that “without press freedom there is no freedom.”
Abu Akleh was an “intrepid and amazing human being,” Foukara said. “We will all miss her and hope this will mark a turning point in the long pattern the world has known of killing journalists and of violating press freedom.”
—Elaine Pasquini
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