Above photo: AFP handout.
The conclusions of a US State Department investigation into the assassination of the Al Jazeera reporter were changed to exonerate Israel
A former US military policeman who investigated the killing of US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqla says an Israeli soldier deliberately shot her, but his superiors at the State Department changed the conclusions of his report to claim the killing was unintentional, the New York Times (NYT) reported on 27 October.
Abu Aqla was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier in Jenin in the West Bank in May 2022 while reporting for Al Jazeera on clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian resistance forces.
Israel initially claimed that Palestinian fighters had killed Abu Aqla, but belatedly apologized for her death a full year later.
The US State Department delivered a report in July 2022 saying that while Israeli soldiers were “likely responsible,” its investigators “found no reason to believe that this was intentional.”
However, Colonel Steve Gabavics, a career military policeman with 30 years’ experience, told the NYT that an Israeli soldier deliberately killed her.
Gabavics, who retired earlier this year, was assigned to investigate the case while serving in Israel as an official at the Office of the United States Security Coordinator, which facilitates cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian security services.
Colonel Gabavics said he and fellow investigators agreed that the Israeli soldier who shot Abu Aqla must have known that he was shooting at a journalist.
Gabavics’ conclusion was based on several factors, including the precision of the shots (which targeted the Al Jazeera journalist in the head), radio traffic indicating that the Israeli soldiers knew there were journalists in the area, and the presence of an Israeli sniper with a clear view of Abu Aqla’s location.
Because no shots came from the direction of Abu Aqla and her team, there was no reason for Israeli troops to open fire toward her. “Therefore, the Israeli soldier must have shot Abu Aqla intentionally,” Gabavics explained.
However, Gabavics’ then-boss, Lt. Gen. Michael R. Fenzel, sidelined him from drafting the review of the investigation, threatened to dismiss him, and issued a final report for the State Department claiming the killing was unintentional.
Colonel Gabavics said that he and his fellow investigators “were just flabbergasted that this is what they put out.”
The final State Department report claiming Abu Aqla’s death was “the result of tragic circumstances” remained “on my conscience nonstop,” he said.
Four US officials speaking anonymously with the NYT stated they believe General Fenzel altered the conclusions in Israel’s favor to “preserve his office’s working relationship with the Israeli military, which had previously stopped cooperating when displeased.”
“The favoritism is always toward the Israelis. Very little of that goes to the Palestinians,” Gabavics explained.
For the soldier to inadvertently shoot the journalist, “the most absurd thing in the world” would have had to happen, he said.
“The individual popped out of the truck, just was randomly shooting, and happened to have really well-aimed shots and never looked down the scope. Which wouldn’t have happened,” the colonel stated.
“This was the one that probably bothered me the most” of any case in his career, he said. “Because we had everything there.”
