The Al Jazeera network said on Tuesday (6) that it had filed a case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli forces for the murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, shot dead during an Israeli attack in the West Bank in May. .
The formal request to the ICC follows an investigation by the network itself which, over the course of six months, gathered images and testimonies of witnesses to the journalist’s death.
During a press conference in The Hague (Netherlands), the seat of the court, Al Jazeera lawyer Rodney Dixon asked the court to identify the individuals directly involved in the case. “International Criminal Court rulings stipulate that those responsible are investigated and held accountable. Otherwise, they bear the same responsibility as if they were the ones who opened fire,” Dixon said.
Also according to the lawyer, the request presented to the ICC is inserted “in the context of a broader attack on Al Jazeera and journalists in Palestine”, referring to episodes such as the Israeli bombing of a building that housed press vehicles during the conflict with Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Gaza Strip.
“The focus is on Shireen and this particular murder, this outrageous murder. But the evidence that we’ve presented looks at all the acts against Al Jazeera. And the evidence shows that what the authorities [israelenses] are trying to do is shut up [da rede]” said Dixon.
Palestinian-American citizen Abu Akleh was shot dead while covering an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. In September, Israeli investigations concluded that she was likely shot by an Israeli soldier, unintentionally shot.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid reacted strongly to the announcement on Tuesday. “Nobody is going to interrogate Israel Defense Forces soldiers, and nobody is going to preach to us about combat morale, certainly not the Al Jazeera network,” he said.
The ICC has a narrow funnel for accepting investigation requests, to the point where it rejects nearly 90% of requests. The court only accepts cases dealing with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or aggression as defined by the Treaty of Rome; when there is no possibility or will of the State that has competence to investigate the crimes; that are serious enough to warrant an investigation; that serves the interests of justice.
In November, the ICC took a historic decision and announced the opening of a formal investigation into possible crimes committed by both Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip —and it is in this loophole that Al Jazeera’s lawyers want to insert their request.
Last month, the government of Israel had already said that it would not cooperate with any external investigation into the death of Abu Akleh, on the same day that the American press reported that the FBI had opened efforts to investigate the case. “The US Ministry of Justice’s decision to investigate the unfortunate death of Shireen Abu Akleh is a serious mistake,” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said at the time.
Israel’s version is that there is no suspicion of a criminal act that warrants a criminal investigation. The Armed Forces claim that the troops conducting the operations were under heavy fire and fought back, even firing at the area where Abu Akleh was, about 200 meters away, without being able to identify her as a journalist.
A report by the United Nations human rights office, however, indicates that Abu Akleh was with other reporters and was clearly identifiable with press statements on his blue bulletproof vest. A colleague was injured in the same situation.
A US State Department report in July concluded that the reporter was likely killed by fire from an Israeli position, but that there was no evidence to suggest that she was intentionally targeted by Israeli forces.
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