“Israeli” PM Backs Soldier Who Killed Journo Abu Akleh, Objects to Prosecution

By Staff, Agencies

“Israeli” prime minister Yair Lapid has come out in full support of the soldier who shot dead Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May, saying the regime’s forces have the “full backing” of Tel Aviv, turning a deaf ear to international calls for punishment of those behind the cold-blooded murder.

He claimed on Wednesday that the “Israeli” soldier behind the killing of Abu Akleh — who was wearing a vest clearly marked “Press” at the time of the murder — was “protecting himself” during exchanges of fire with Palestinians.

Lapid said he would not allow the soldier to “be prosecuted just to receive applause from abroad.”

“No one will dictate our rules of engagement to us,” he said adding that “Israeli” soldiers have the full backing of the regime and the “Israelis”.

Lapid was reacting to an “Israeli” military report conceded for the first time that Abu Akleh, a US-Palestinian citizen, who was martyred on May 11 while covering an “Israeli” military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, was likely shot by an “Israeli” soldier.

On Monday, the “Israeli” military announced that its investigations into Abu Akleh’s case concluded that she was likely shot “unintentionally” by an “Israeli” soldier who has mistaken her for a fighter.

“There is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by [Israeli military] gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen,” said the military report.

The military report also added that troops conducting operations in Jenin had come under heavy fire from all sides and had fired back, including towards the area where Abu Akleh was standing about 200 meters from their position, but claimed that they had not been able to identify her as a journalist.

This is while a United Nations investigation concluded in June that there was “no evidence of activity by armed Palestinians close by” when Abu Akleh was shot.

Initially, the regime’s military was insisting that it was impossible to determine the source of the deadly shot that killed the celebrated journalist.

In the immediate aftermath of her killing, the Zionist regime even claimed that she could have been shot by a Palestinian gunman.

Abu Akleh was one of the most recognizable faces reporting on the “Israeli”-Palestinian conflict for two decades. Her death triggered outrage across the world and led to calls for an independent investigation.

The Palestinians have accused the “Israeli” entity of deliberately targeting Abu Akleh. Palestinian authorities and Al Jazeera, of which Abu Akleh was a staff member, see the findings of “Israeli” investigations as unreliable and call for an international probe.

The Abu Akleh family said that the entity had “refused to take responsibility for the murder” of the journalist.