WHEN Israel has to stoop so low as to murder Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, a Palestinian-American journalist, in cold blood in order to prevent her from reporting the truth about the brutal treatment of the Palestinians by the Zionist apartheid regime of Israel, it is a sign the country is following the path of the former apartheid regime of South Africa.

Shireen, who worked for Al Jazeera for 25 years reporting in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, despite wearing a vest with the word “Press” on it.

She was shot in the face while doing what she has been doing since 1997 – telling the truth.

Shireen was murdered for telling the truth about how Israel has corralled, bludgeoned, “raided”, evicted, jailed, traumatised, tortured, murdered, and terrorised Palestinian after Palestinian, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade.

She did her job with grace, patience and resilience despite the indignities, horrors and dangers that came with it.

Even in death she was not spared. Television pictures worldwide showed her casket almost fell to the ground several times during her funeral because Israeli security forces were beating the pallbearers.

This time around, international condemnation for the killing and the brutal treatment of mourners came fast and furious. For the first time, Israel’s supreme protector and benefactor, the US, has come out with supportive statements for the Palestinians, in contrast to its silence of the past. 

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for “an immediate and credible investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

On the brutal treatment of the Israeli security forces on the unarmed mourners, Blinken said: “We are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Shireen. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner”.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “We are heartbroken by and strongly condemn the killing”, calling it an “affront to media freedom everywhere” and that the perpetrators “must be held accountable”.

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called Shireen’s death “really horrifying,” and called for a transparent and thorough investigation.

US speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote on Twitter: “The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is an horrific tragedy”, which earned a sarcastic rejoinder from Al Jazeera columnist, Andrew Mitrovica, who said: “Newsflash, Speaker Pelosi, shooting a Palestinian-American journalist in the face on purpose is not a “tragedy”. It is a crime. We know, we know, Israeli soldiers never commit crimes”.

It is quite unprecedented for such a long list of US high-ranking officials to comment on such killings.

Perhaps, this has a lot to do with the Russia-Ukraine war where double standards have been perceived to exist. The US is super quick to condemn perceived atrocities and injustices in the region compared to its response to the atrocities and injustices of Israel perpetrates on the Palestinians.

At the May 14 Asean-US Special Summit in Washington, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaacob was the only Asean leader to bring up the issue of Israeli atrocities in its occupied territories during a meeting with Biden.

Ismail called for Washington to use its influence to resolve the Palestinian issue. “Israeli atrocities must be stopped. The US must be honest in resolving the issue. If the US can take swift action in Ukraine, we want the same swift action to be taken on the Palestinian issue,” he said.

The US and its European allies appear to be getting only a lukewarm response from many countries to its advocacy for a global coalition to enforce sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Perhaps this was among the chief reasons the US president held a special summit with Asean leaders.

On the Russia-Ukraine war, Asean told the US president it wanted the crisis to be resolved through negotiation. Ismail told Malaysian media, “War does not benefit anyone. In fact, many would suffer great losses because of the war.

Ismail was spot on in his comment. But, he should add that the war would only enrich the military-industrial complex of the US and Europe.

The PM pointed out that Southeast Asian countries were also affected by the war, especially by the  inflation it causes.

Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic clergy in Jerusalem strongly condemned the actions of Israeli police at Shireen’s funeral, adding that they were ‘disrespectful and disproportionate” in their use of force.

Shireen was a Christian which shows that the Palestinian issue is not merely a Muslim but an all-encompassing issue involving even Palestinian Christians who have been and continue to be oppressed along with their Muslim brethren by the brutal Zionist regime of Israel. 

Israel’s first reaction to the killing was to attribute it to Palestinian gunmen, and that she was caught in crossfire. 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said “armed Palestinians shot in an inaccurate, indiscriminate, and uncontrolled manner” during the IDF operation. “Our forces from the IDF returned fire as accurately, carefully, and responsibly as possible. Sadly, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in the exchange.”

But for all its accurate, careful and responsible shooting, the IDF failed to kill a single Palestinian gunmen in the operation.

Israel has maintained that it is committed to investigation. Bennet said: “To uncover the truth, there must be a real investigation, and the Palestinians are currently preventing that. Without a serious investigation, we will not reach the truth.”

He was referring to an earlier statement of the Israeli government saying it would jointly investigate the killing with the Palestinian Authority, but the Palestinian side declined to provide Shireen’s body or share the bullet that killed her with Israeli authorities. 

According to analysts, the Palestinian refusal has a lot to do with the Israeli government not having a good track record of investigating its own crimes.

Israel doesn’t allow international investigations of violations in the country or the occupied territories and in recent years has chosen not to cooperate or provide access to UN commissions or special rapporteurs.

Israel has even designated Palestinian rights organisation Al-Haq as a terrorist organisation in what experts called retribution for Al-Haq’s documentation of violations on the ground. 

It is telling that even an Israeli rights group has no confidence in investigations spearheaded by Israel.

“No one should believe the Israeli promises to ‘investigate’ what has happened because the promise of investigations are nothing but the first step in Israel’s organised whitewash,” said Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the rights group B’Tselem.

“Israel is unable and unwilling to conduct such investigations which opens the door to international legal responsibility,” he added. And that’s mainly because it’s the army that’s investigating the army.

Israel is well known for ignoring and violating UN resolutions and it will be more interesting to watch the reactions of the US, EU and UN Security Council in the event Israel drags its feet in carrying out an investigation. – May 23, 2022.

Jamari Mohtar reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.