How The Israeli Occupation Will Get Away With the Attack on Shireen Abu Akleh’s Funeral?

Two days after her assassination, veteran Al-Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh was about to be taken to her tomb when the Israeli occupation tried to tear the Palestinian flags from her coffin while beating pallbearers with clubs, causing her coffin to almost fall to the ground.

Despite her death, Abu Akleh is reporting one more time the atrocity of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians and the clear violations of international human rights.

Everyone was shocked watching the Israeli occupation attacking the funeral of the late Palestinian journalist.

The shock was not only because of the excessive cruelty of the Israeli forces but also because they know that carrying out those practices in front of the world will seriously damage their reputation.

However, the occupation seemed quite sure it would get away with its attack on Shireen's funeral.

 

Killed Twice

The recent Israeli attack on Shireen Abu Akleh's funeral was not the only hostile measure taken by the occupation against an Al Jazeera journalist who was killed by an Israeli sniper.

The Israeli forces raided her family’s home and threatened her brother before the funeral. Many other Israeli practices reflected that the decision-makers and the occupation leaders had the ability to get away with all crimes no matter what they did.

The occupation had promised the Biden administration that the funeral of Shireen Abu Akleh would be “respectful,” according to The Guardian.

But what happened was totally the opposite; there was a brutal attack on Palestinians praying for Shireen and carrying her coffin as documented by many videos.

The occupation was likely displeased with those viral videos showing Israeli attempts to tear the Palestinian flags from Abu Akleh’s coffin “while beating pallbearers with clubs, causing her coffin to almost fall to the ground,” according to the same source.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken said that “the Israeli soldiers” were merely uninvited guests. Israeli forces have not yet faced any international repercussions for their actions in Palestine in years.

 

Clear Impunity

Encouraged by the silence of the international community and the world’s inaction, the Israeli forces can get away with all the violations committed against the Palestinians.

At the same time, the recent results of the investigation on Shireen’s assassination and the absence of any action to investigate what happened during her funeral give no intention to take on step further to a real investigation, especially with no International condemnation issued until this moment.

However, the Israeli forces may face sharp criticism from inside, namely from the Israeli right.

Criticisms may come from the right due to the almost complete disappearance of the political left forces in “Israel” 10 years ago after the extremist right-wing dominated the Israeli scene with the support of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which means that the political competition in the country comes from the heart of the right-wing parties.

The dominance of the Israeli right has prompted most Israeli politicians to turn to the right in order not to lose their popularity.

The absence of the left-wing politicians was a reason for most Israeli “soldiers,” to get away with any form of punishment when committing any practices that involve violations or crimes against the Palestinians.

Netanyahu and his successor, Naftali Bennett were keen to avoid appearing lenient with the Israeli forces, but they often failed to do so.

According to the Israeli human rights NGO, Yesh Din, only 7 percent of complaints against Israeli soldiers ended in a trial, “while 80 percent of those complaints were closed without a criminal investigation, which makes Israeli forces safe from punishment and never expect to face any consequences for their violations.”

 

They Meant What They Did

In his interview with Al-Estiklal, Hazem Ayyad, political analyst and academic researcher in political science, said that “the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh came most likely through a trap.. the forces participating in the Jenin conflict were the elite of the occupation forces, because soldiers without experience will not be sent to a hot spot such as Jenin, so they were able to identify the journalists.”

Ayyad believed that Al-Jazeera journalists were classified as a target because they represent an obstacle to the occupation forces.

“Despite their journalistic uniforms and equipment, and in an area classified as safe and open, the sniper took place in cold blood and shot Abu Akleh, this means that there is a premeditated intent to kill and physically liquidate journalists, especially those working for Al-Jazeera channel; as if the Israeli occupation army waited for their arrival to kill them,” he added.

Ayyad insisted that sniping the journalist is a pre-planned operation; the sniping process is always preceded by an order explained by the high accuracy in choosing the target, and it did not come as a result of a military reaction to a sudden moving target.

“The cold-blooded targeting has reminded us of the targeting of media towers in Gaza last year, and the targeting of the martyr paramedic Rouzan al-Najjar in the Great March of Return a few years ago,” the political analyst said.

“The assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is a political event that confirms a political decision gave the green light to target journalists, perhaps there is a whole list of those targeted, and a general permission to target specific media outlets.”