Hundreds protest Al Jazeera journalist’s killing in Israel’s north

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Hundreds gathered in Israel’s north on Wednesday to protest the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank earlier in the day.

Currently, about 200 people are demonstrating in Haifa, waving Palestinian flags, holding pictures of Abu Akleh and carrying signs bearing texts in Hebrew and Arabic reading “Occupation = terror.” Several dozen people are also protesting in Nazareth.

Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead during an IDF operation in the Jenin Refugee Camp. Another journalist was moderately wounded by the gunfire. Palestinians claim Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli fire, while Israel claims she was killed by the gunfire of local combatants in Jenin.

The protest in Haifa.Rami Shllush

“We stand here this evening in protest of the murder of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh today in Jenin,” Raja Zaatry, chairman of the Haifa branch of the Hadash communist party, said.

She described Abu Akleh’s killing as “a grave crime that is added to the many crimes of the occupation, which is the main and daily terror in this country.”

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Also speaking at the demonstration, former Hadash lawmaker Issam Makhoul said that “the targeted execution of senior journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is a war crime, and it is an intentional crime that is the result of the frustration of a policy of occupation that is unsuccessful.

“Whoever thinks that the solution will come via applying more force will fail both on the security level and the political level, and he will bring suffering to both nations,” he added.

Mohammed Barakeh, the chairman of Israel’s Higher Arab Monitoring Committee told Haaretz that “Shireen’s blood is on Bennett’s hands and any attempt to murder the truth just as Shirreen was murdered will fail.”

Following the incident, the IDF Spokesperson said that Israeli forces responded to massive fire coming their way and that according to initial findings Abu Alkeh was killed by Palestinian militants.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Israel offered the Palestinians to start a joint investigation, but the offer was rejected.