Al Jazeera slams Israel attempt to evade responsibility for journalist’s murder

Al Jazeera has condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ (IOF) attempt to evade responsibility for the killing of its journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, in May.

This came after the Israeli army published the results of its investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing, which concluded that there is a “high probable” that the Palestinian-American journalist was “accidentally hit” by Israeli fire, adding that it would not be launching a criminal investigation into the actions of any soldier.

“Al Jazeera Media Network denounces the findings of this investigation and stresses that this elusive admission is nothing but an attempt from the IOF to evade the responsibility for the killing of Shireen, which has been proven by numerous independent and international criminal investigations,” the Qatar -based TV network said in a statement on Monday.

“The Network demands that an independent international body investigates the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh to achieve justice for her, her family, and fellow missionaries around the world.”

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Israeli authorities released the results of their investigation into Abu Akleh’s murder and said: “After a comprehensive examination of the incident, and based on all the findings, the Military Advocate General found that under the circumstances of the case, there is no suspicion of a criminal offence that justifies the opening of a Military Police investigation.”

Speaking to journalists on Monday, senior Israeli officials said they had met the soldier who could have killed Abu Akleh, and that “if he did it, he did it by mistake”.

“We are very proud of the conduct of our soldiers,” the Israeli officials said, adding that the soldiers “were briefed and acted according to procedure.”

For their part, the family of Shireen Abu Akleh rejected the results of Israel’s investigation, and said: “We were not surprised by Israel’s refusal to assume its responsibilities for Shireen’s assassination, and this confirms that Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their crimes.”