Reports: FBI opens up new inquiry into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh
Mourners attend a memorial ceremony for Shireen Abu Akleh, to mark the 40th day of the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 19, 2022. Photo by Abbas Momani/AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The FBI has opened up an investigation into the killing Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American journalist killed in May in an exchange of fire between Palestinian and Israeli troops, Israel-based reports said.
Such an investigation is significant because the Biden administration’s State Department has already signed off on Israel’s finding that an Israeli soldier likely shot the fatal bullet, and that there was no evidence that the killing was intentional. The FBI may be ready to investigate whether the shooting was intentional, as Palestinian officials and Abu Akleh’s family have alleged.
The FBI routinely investigates alleged crimes against American citizens overseas and even has a dedicated department for such investigations. But it is rare if not unprecedented for the agency to investigate whether a soldier in an allied army is liable for a killing.
The reports Monday in multiple outlets, including Haaretz and by Axios’ Israel-based correspondent, Barak Ravid, mostly cited Israeli sources. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has asked the White House, the State Department and the FBI for confirmation.
“This is an overdue but necessary and important step in the pursuit of justice and accountability in the shooting death of American citizen and journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, wrote on Twitter, where he shared a news report about the FBI investigation.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
