Israeli Police Beat Al Jazeera Journalist Mourners, US Inflamed

KOMPAS.com – The US and European Union led an international outcry on Saturday (14/5/2022) after Israeli police charged the funeral procession of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and beat a pallbearer and nearly dropped her coffin.

Reported AFPThousands of mourners thronged Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday (05/13/2022) at the funeral of the 51-year-old Al Jazeera journalist, two days after he was killed in an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.

Television footage showed the hearers struggling to stop Abu Akleh’s coffin from falling to the ground as police holding batons stormed towards them, grabbing Palestinian flags.

Read also: Israeli Police Attack Funeral Procession of Killed Al Jazeera Journalist

“The United States is deeply disturbed to see images of Israeli police interfering with his funeral procession,” said Foreign Minister Antony Blinken.

The European Union condemned what it said was “unnecessary force” by Israeli police.

Israel and Palestine blamed each other after Abu Akleh was shot in the head on Wednesday (11/5/2022) near the Jenin refugee camp in the north West Bank.

He was wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest marked “PRESS”.

Read also: Israel Continues Attack on Location of Killed Al Jazeera Journalist

The Israeli army said an interim investigation was unable to determine who fired the fatal bullet.

It noted that Palestinian stray fire or Israeli sniper fire aimed at the militants were possible causes.

The Palestinian public prosecutor said initial investigations showed “the sole origin of the shooting was the Israeli occupation forces”.

Al Jazeera said Israel killed him “on purpose” and “in cold blood”.

Read also: Al Jazeera journalist shooting victim to be buried near Jerusalem

In a rare unanimous statement, the UN Security Council condemned the killing.

They called for an immediate, thorough, transparent and impartial investigation.

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