Abu Aqleh’s brother Anton wrote to Biden on Friday expressing his family’s “sorrow, anger and sense of betrayal” after the US State Department concluded that Israeli forces were “likely responsible” for the shooting in head of Al Jazeera’s West Bank reporter. city of Jenin in May, but “found no reason to believe this was intentional.” The letter to Biden said the State Department’s assessment was “whitewash” given the weight of evidence showing Abu Aqleh “was the subject of an extrajudicial killing” by the Israeli military, including a United Nations report that said soldiers fired “several apparently well-aimed bullets” at her and other journalists. The family accused the White House of adopting the Israeli government’s conclusions and talking points with “an apparent intent to undermine our efforts for justice and accountability for Shirin’s death.” “Rather, the United States seeks to expunge any wrongdoing by Israeli forces,” the letter said. The journalist’s niece, Lina Abu Akleh, told the Guardian that a request to meet Biden after he arrived in Jerusalem on Wednesday was met with silence from the White House. Abu Aqleh, who said she was very close to her aunt and spoke to her almost daily, accused Washington of putting Israeli interests ahead of discovering the truth about the death of an American citizen. “The US is clearly trying to bury the case. They’re trying to cover it up,” he said. “If Shireen had been killed in Ukraine, I’m 100% sure the reaction would have been completely different. Action would have been taken from day one. There would be liability. There would be a transparent and independent investigation. And there would be justice.” The Abu Aqleh family is supported by Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. “This much is clear – the State Department has utterly failed in its mission as it relates to the killing of an American citizen. This failure sends a clear message to the world: some American lives are worth more than others, and some ‘allies’ have a license to kill with impunity,” Tlaib said in a statement. Last week, the State Department said the US security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Lt. Gen. Mark Schwartz, had been “granted full access” to the Israeli and Palestinian investigations into the journalist’s death and had overseen “an extremely detailed forensic investigation.” analysis » of the bullet that killed her. The department said the security coordinator concluded that Abu Aqleh’s death was “the result of tragic circumstances” during an Israeli military operation. However, he said investigators “were unable to reach a definitive conclusion about the origin of the bullet” because it was so badly damaged. The slain journalist’s family told Biden that the State Department bought Israeli claims that she was killed during a firefight with Palestinian militants when UN and other investigations found that Abu Aqleh was nowhere near the fighting at the time. “Your government’s actions can only be seen as an attempt to erase the extrajudicial killing of Shireen and further entrench the systemic impunity enjoyed by Israeli forces and officials for the unlawful killing of Palestinians,” the family said in the letter to the president. Lina Abu Aqleh said the U.S. had failed to provide the family with details about the investigation or how the security coordinator reached his conclusions, and called on Biden to release the information his administration has gathered about the killing. “We never felt that we were informed or supported. We received condolences. But we need substantial commitment and action. That’s what we’re asking for and we didn’t get it,” he said. The family asked Biden to withdraw the State Department’s assessment and appoint the FBI and other agencies to conduct a full investigation into the killing. It also seeks to clarify who tested the bullet after the Palestinian Authority agreed to hand it over to the US for forensic examination, provided the Israelis were not implicated. However, the Israeli military claimed that the test was to be carried out by Israeli experts with the US acting as observers. The White House has been approached for comment.
