Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence John Brady TD has stated that the findings of the UN investigation into the shooting of the American Palestinian Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in the West Bank, in May, leaves no doubt, if there ever was to begin with, that Abu Akleh was murdered by Israeli forces.
The Wicklow TD said:
“I want to add my voice to that of the UN human rights office which has stated that they find it deeply disturbing that the Israeli authorities have not undertaken a criminal investigation into the shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh.
“Shireen was wearing a vest that clearly identified her as a journalist. There was no shooting in the area in which Shireen and her colleagues were positioned. There was no warning given by the Israeli security forces.
“Each of the several well aimed single shots were fired from the direction of a Israeli Defence Forces position.
“As was so often the case with extra judicial killings by the state during the conflict in Ireland, the state, in this instance Israel was quickly out of the blocks with a false narrative, claiming that it was Palestinians firing indiscriminately responsible for the death of Abu Akleh.
“The efforts of the UN human rights office to determine the reality of what occurred on the day, has debunked the Israeli falsehoods.
“A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office stated categorically that all of the information and evidence which they gathered clearly indicated that the Israeli Security Forces were responsible for the shooting dead of Abu Akleh, and the wounding of her colleague Ali Sammoudi.
“Not only have the Israeli authorities failed to investigate Shireen’s murder, but they also deliberately and brutally baton charged mourners at her funeral.
“This is part of a shameful strategy on the part of the Israeli authorities who are attempting to suppress the capacity of Palestinian civic society to reveal to the world the extent of the violence and oppression that the Israeli state is visiting upon Palestinians.”
