Israeli sniper shoots Shireen Abu Aqleh behind the ear as a warning in lead-up to al Nakba
Here is a sad and an important story by Mazin Qumsiyeh about Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who had a strong impact on the Arab world; she inspired a generation of women to become journalists so what happened? An Israeli sniper assassinated her in the street in Jenin on the West Bank. Already Israeli spin doctors are working overtime with their lies and obfuscations.
On the eve of Joe Biden’s first visit to Israel as President L’Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) has called for sanctions to stop Israel’s killing of Palestinians with impunity.
Ian Curr
12 May 2022
__oOo__
It is so hard for me to write today – too many tears.
The US supported Israeli occupation forces’ crimes continue daily but some days are harder than others. Shireen Abu Aqleh, wearing blue helmet and vest with PRESS written over it was assassinated by Israeli occupation forces today.
All journalists on the scene explained how Israeli snipers simply targeted journalists. The first three bullets on the scene were a miss then a hit on one male Journalist (in the back) then when Shireen shouted that he was hit, she was killed with a bullet beneath the ear.
Shireen was also a US citizen (she is a Bethlehemite Christian who lived in Jerusalem). But that is no protection. Rachel Corrie was run over by an Israeli military bulldozer and killed intentionally in Rafah two decades ago and the killers were rewarded. Both killings happened as the world was distracted by other conflicts (Iraq and now Ukraine).
The US government cares nothing about its own citizens because politicians are under the thumb of AIPAC. Thousands of others were killed and the murderers still roam free and are funded by US tax payers. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue daily here. The US government is a partner in crime (just note how the US Ambassador simply hoped for an investigation- why not send the FBI to investigate the murder of countless US citizens). The events and the reaction in Western corporate(“mainstream”) media and Western Governments makes us so mad. If you are not outraged to act, you are not human.
In the same day today the apartheid forces murdered 15-year-old Thaer Alyazouri as he was returning from school. As we pointed out before, Palestine remains the fulcrum and the litmus testing it exposes hypocrisy and collusion. It is actually the achilles heel for Western propaganda . Like with South Africa under apartheid, Western leaders’ empty rhetoric of human rights and democracy is exposed by their direct support for apartheid and murder. May this intentional murder of a journalist finally be the straw that breaks the back of hypocrisy, Zionism and imperialism. Millions of people mourn this brave journalist murdered by a fascist racist regime. Millions will rededicate themselves to challenge Western hypocrisy and US supported Israeli crimes against humanity.
My 90 year old mother born before the Nakba told me about the atrocities done since 1948 and before by the terrorist Zionist militias in their quest to colonize Palestine.
From the first terrorist attack (and yes Zionists were first to use terrorism like bombing markets or hijacking airplanes) to the 33 massacres during the 1948-1950 ethnic cleansing of Palestine (Tantura, Deir Yassin etc.).
We will not forget nor forgive. Justice is key to peace here and justice begins with ending the nightmare called Zionism and prosecuting its leaders and collaborators and funders in real fair trials. Only then will Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all others flourish in this land of Palestine. Palestine will then return to be a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society instead of a racist apartheid state of Israel
It is inevitable but we can accelerate it with our actions. We honour Shireen, Rachel and over 110,000 martyrs by acting as they did: telling truth, challenging evil deeds, working for justice (which is a prerequisite for peace).
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability Bethlehem University Occupied Palestine
More on Shireen Abu Akleh
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/11/veteran-al-jazeera-journalist-killed-by-israeli-forces-live-news
More on Rachel Corrie https://youtu.be/LCzM0rcPi3c
Silence is complicity —– WHAT YOU CAN DO:
http://qumsiyeh.org/whatyoucando/
also go to https://www.palestinenature.org/ and click tab “GET INVOLVED”
Old yiddish song: Oy, Ir Narishe Tsionistn – Oh, You Foolish Little Zionists
https://youtu.be/tQMRwk8WDd4
Jenin Jenin https://www.palestinefilminstitute.org/en/pfp
Arming apartheid: Canada’s support of Israeli racist regime
https://www.cjpme.org/arming_apartheid
Honduras Dictator Hernandez links to apartheid Israel
https://bdsmovement.net/BNC-Statement-Honduras-Dictator-Hernandez
Stay Human and keep Palestine alive
http://qumsiyeh.orghttp://palestinenature.org
Personal
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=989840358563657
Here is footage of speakers at the rally
https://www.facebook.com/justiceforpalestinebrisbane/videos/677681660003010
Here is an ‘in memoriam’ to Shireen Abu Akleh
https://youtu.be/bFmhy4HGCeQ
March stopped
Gruesome murder of journo by Israeli sniper using illegal dum dum bullets
Dear Editor,
Yesterday we received the shocking news of the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was on assignment for Al Jazeera in Jenin.
From 150 metres, an Israeli sniper using internationally banned dum dum bullets which expand inside the body, blew half her face away; her photographer was shot in the back and all were wearing press vests and helmets.
This is yet another example of apartheid Israel desperately trying to subdue the Palestinian population after 74 years of all out terrorism by trying to block news of their house demolitions, theft of land and houses, child arrests, infanticide, assaults, arbitary detention, intense surveillance, maiming, wounding and murdering.
Despite Israel being declared an apartheid state by Professors Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley in their UN report, by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli Human Rights organisation, B’Tselem, Prime Minister Morrison can eulogize Israel and claim, “Israel has a place in my heart,”
—
Gareth W R Smith
Palestine Liberation Centre
14 Cumbebin Park
Byron Bay
NSW 2481
Australia
Tel: (61)2-56058404
MOB: 0491107279
“Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
George Orwell, ‘Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.’
“The sleep of reason produces monsters.” Goya
Palestinian journalist murdered by Israel: sanctions are needed
Israel took another step in its ongoing violation of the law and war crimes this morning in Jenin when 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was shot in the head by the Israeli army.
A large number of soldiers of the occupation army had stormed the town of Jenin and sealed off a house to arrest a young Palestinian. Confrontations with dozens of Palestinian youths ensued.
Shireen Abu Aqleh, who was wearing a bullet-proof waistcoat with the word “PRESS” crossed out, was hit by a live bullet to the head. She died.
Another journalist, Ali Samoudi, was also hit by a live bullet in the back. He said “the occupation forces targeted the journalists directly.
Witnesses said that soldiers fired live ammunition at young Palestinians and news crews.
On 25 April 2018, Palestinian journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein succumbed to his injuries in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier had shot him. Another journalist, Yasser Mortaja, died instantly in the same way. Both journalists were covering the “March of Return.
Palestinian (and sometimes international) journalists are subjected daily to travel restrictions and access bans, confiscation or destruction of their equipment and arrests. According to a Reporters Without Borders count, in four years, at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been the victims of violations by the Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank: tear gas, rubber bullets, truncheons, sound grenades, live ammunition, etc.
Shireen Abu Aqleh, 51, an experienced field journalist, was one of Al Jazeera’s first correspondents in Palestine. For a quarter of a century, she has been at the heart of the Palestinian resistance’s actions to report on them. Ignoring the danger, she covered the wars, attacks and aggressions of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians.
Israel attempts to gag those who document war crimes, as it has done by labelling Palestinian human rights NGOs as terrorists. Israel assassinates journalists and those who resist: 11 young people from the village of Beita, a village that refuses the colonisation of its land, have been assassinated by the Israeli army in one year.
The Israeli prime minister has given his soldiers a licence to kill. They use and abuse it, including against journalists.
Israeli war crimes are known and documented. They have been going on for decades. Yet they do not lead to any sanctions from the international community. Until when? The European Union is shocked by the murder of Shireen Abu Aqleh. Will it finally take sanctions against Israel?
The AFPS sends its most sincere condolences to the family of Shireen Abu Aqleh. It conveys its solidarity to the Palestinian journalists and the popular resistance committees that worked with her on a daily basis.
It urges France and the European Union to put an end to the impunity that Israel has always enjoyed by taking immediate sanctions. War crimes must be punished in the same way wherever they are perpetrated.
The National Office of the AFPS
11 May 2022
L’Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)
Palestinian Rights Committee’s Bureau condemns the senseless killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Following is a statement by the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:
The Bureau of the United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People condemns the killing today of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was fatally shot while reporting for Al Jazeera News on Israeli military forces’ operation in Jenin, in occupied West Bank. The Bureau extends its deepest condolences to Ms. Abu Akleh’s family and wishes a speedy recovery to injured fellow journalist Ali Al-Samoudi.
The Bureau reiterates the crucial role played by journalists in conflict zones and the imperative of media freedom to provide accurate information, and underscores that they should never be targets of violence, harassment or intimidation. The Bureau calls for an immediate, independent, and thorough international investigation into this killing and for bringing to justice those responsible. The Bureau also reiterates its calls for protection of the Palestinian people in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The Bureau has repeatedly stated that the Israeli occupation of Palestine remains the source of the conflict and suffering and urges the realization of a two-State solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders and in accordance with international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions as the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. This is an objective that fulfills the aspirations of the Palestinian people to self-determination, independence and freedom and puts an end to Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
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Follow the Palestinian Rights Committee: https://www.un.org/unispal/
See https://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2022/05/12/palestine-journalist-assassinated/
Shireen Abu Akleh’s colleague and close friend @DaliaHatuqa remembers the impact she had on the Arab world, and how she inspired a generation of women to become journalists.