US invites Shireen Abu Akleh’s family to Washington

The United States administration has invited the family of the slain Al Jazeera Palestinian reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh, to Washington, the US President’s National Security Adviser announced yesterday.

Jake Sullivan told reporters that the US State Secretary, Anthony Blinken, had invited the “family to the United States to be able to sit down and engage with him directly.”

Palestinian-American Abu Akleh was killed in May while covering an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank western town of Jenin. Washington’s investigations had concluded that she was “likely” to be killed by Israeli fire, but also said there was “no evidence the killing was intentional”.

In a letter they sent last week to the American President Joe Biden, Abu Akleh’s family expressed their “outrage” over the US administration conclusion. They also demanded a meeting with the President.

READ: Gaza calls for justice for Abu Akleh as Biden lands in Israel

The White House has not approved Biden’s meeting with the family during his current Middle East visit, which began yesterday in Israel.

Shireen’s niece, Lina, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that she has had a phone call with Blinken on Wednesday. “We got a call a few hours ago, around noon-time, and we reiterated our demands and our request to meet the President on his arrival in Jerusalem,” she told AFP.

The veteran journalist at Qatar’s Al Jazeera was wearing a flak jacket with the word “press” written on it and a protective helmet when she was shot in the head. According to the Palestinian Attorney General, the bullet was 5.56 mm calibre and was fired from a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic sniper rifle, a weapon the Palestinians say is used by Israeli forces.