about time to narrow the Israeli military forces’ scope of impunity, to ensure accountability for the assassination of journalist Shereen Abu Aqleh

  Date: June 1, 2022

 Press Release

It’s about time to narrow the Israeli military forces’ scope of impunity, to ensure accountability for the assassination of journalist Shereen Abu Aqleh.

We -the signatories to this letter and petition- call on you today to take a historical position that expresses strict adherence to the international human rights and humanitarian law system, so that the respect of human rights, including the necessity of holding perpetrators of international crimes accountable, occupies the forefront of international relations.

the International Commission for Supporting Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) sent all the institutions of the international community Among them: International Parliament
, Arab Parliament, President of the Human Rights Council. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and  International human rights organizations.

On Wednesday morning, May 11, 2022, the Israeli occupation forces that stormed the Jenin refugee camp, directly targeted a number of journalists covering the events while wearing blue vests and protective helmets with distinctive badges. As a result, journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh (51 years) was shot in the head, and journalist Ali Sadiq Salim Smoudi (55 years), who works as a producer with Al-Jazeera, was shot in the back. Moreover, the occupation forces obstructed the providing first aid to the injured by continuing shooting directly at anyone who tried to approach them -as the visual documentation shows-. Ambulances were able to transport the two injured to Bin Sina Hospital in Jenin at 7:15 am, where the medical staff in the hospital announced the death of journalist Abu Aqleh from her injuries.

Many videos documenting the crime or part of it, as well as official Palestinian reports prove that the location of journalist Shereen Abu Aqleh and her colleagues was not a site of armed clashes, and that the source of the shooting came from the side of the Israeli occupation forces that stormed the Jenin refugee camp, and that the injury was below the ear, the place that helmets dont cover, which indicates that it was deliberate and not random. All of these indicators refute the Israeli government’s allegations regarding the assissination of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.

The Israeli behavior towards journalists and civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories clearly indicates the Israeli desire, planning, and implementation of crimes against journalists, where since the beginning of 2000 to date, the Israeli occupation forces have killed 48 journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories, in its quest to assassinate the truth.

The observer of Israeli crimes and violations becomes certain that its warlike behavior towards journalists, media professionals, and media and journalistic institutions operating in Palestine reflects Israeli plans that deliberately target journalists to limit their ability to report field facts.

We should not wait any longer or rely on the alleged Israeli investigation tracks. Therefore, the signatories to this letter / petition put you before your moral and legal responsibility alike, and demand that you work hard to:

• First: Adopt clear policies and public stances concerning the crime of assassinating Abu Aqleh, and confirm that this crime amounts to the level of crimes stipulated in the Rome Statute, especially since the occupation forces are deliberately breaching the international protection granted to journalists under the Geneva Conventions and its protocols.
• Second: Serious work next to the Office of the Public Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court to include the crime of assassinating journalist Abu Aqleh to the file of grave and serious violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied Palestinian territories; and the need for the Criminal Court to move a step forward on the Palestinian track by actually starting preliminary investigations, which would achieve the required deterrence to limit Israeli military plans that contradict the principles of international humanitarian law.
• Third: Urge you to move forward to lead efforts to activate accountability mechanisms for the leaders and soldiers of the Israeli military occupation for deliberately committing massive and systematic violations that deny and undermine the established principles of international law and order.

Finally, the signatories (persons and organizations) urge you to assume your moral and legal responsibilities and adopt this letter and earnestly striving to take meaningful measures to implement its content, in order to ensure an end to the state of obstructing realizing the principle of international accountability in the face of the Israeli occupation forces.