THE HAGUE: TV network Al Jazeera submitted the case of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, saying she was killed by Israeli forces.
The Qatar-based channel said it had “unearthed new evidence” on the death of the Palestinian-American, shot while covering an Israel army raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on May 11.
Any person or group can file a complaint to the ICC prosecutor for investigation, but the court is under no obligation to take on such cases.
But the United States opposed the Al Jazeera move, renewing objections to investigations involving Israel.
“We oppose it,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
“The ICC should focus on its core mission, and that core mission is of serving as a court of last resort in punishing and deterring atrocity crimes.”
Al Jazeera said its submission highlighted “new witness evidence and video footage (that) clearly show that Shireen and her colleagues were directly fired at by the Israeli Occupation Forces”. “The claim by the Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed by mistake in an exchange of fire is completely unfounded,” the channel said.
An AFP journalist saw a lawyer representing Al Jazeera’s case entering the ICC’s headquarters to hand over their submission.
The ICC last year launched a probe into war crimes in the Palestinian territories, but Israel is not an ICC member and disputes the court’s jurisdiction.
The Israeli army conceded on September 5 that one of its soldiers had likely shot Abu Akleh after mistaking her for a militant.
Israel said it would not cooperate with any external probe into Abu Akleh’s death. “No one will investigate IDF (Israeli military) soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said.
Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2022