Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) held a moment of silence on the House floor to honor Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian journalist and Al Jazeera correspondent killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday. Abu Akleh was outside the Jenin refugee camp with other journalists when she was shot in the head. The journalists were wearing blue flak jackets and helmets emblazoned with the word “PRESS.”
Another Palestinian journalist, Ali Samoudi, was shot in the back. He’s currently at a local hospital in stable condition.
“People woke up to the killing Shireen Abu Akleh and I would like to do a moment of silence [over this] this shocking news, a journalist of over twenty years, a Palestinian-American killed,” said Tlaib while visibly holding back tears.
Tlaib also condemned the the killing on Twitter and called on President Biden to take action. “When will the world and those who stand by Apartheid Israel that continues to murder, torture and commit war crimes finally say: ‘Enough?’,” she wrote. “Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered by a government that receives unconditional funding by our country with zero accountability.”
“When will the world and those who stand by Apartheid Israel that continues to murder, torture and commit war crimes finally say: ‘Enough?'”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
“An American journalist clearly marked with press credentials was murdered,” Tlaib tweeted at Biden’s Twitter acccount. “Doing and saying nothing just enables more killings. Whether you’re Palestinian, American, or not, being killed with U.S. funding must stop.”
“Very sad to learn of the death of American and Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh…,” said U.S. ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. “I encourage a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her death and the injury of at least one other journalist today in Jenin.”
These sentiments were echoed by State Department spokesman Ned Price. “We are heartbroken by and strongly condemn the killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank,” he tweeted. “The investigation must be immediate and thorough and those responsible must be held accountable. Her death is an affront to media freedom everywhere.”
Thus far statements from the administration have omitted the fact that Israel receives over $3.8 billion in military aid from the U.S. government every year. “Was the bullet or the gun used to kill Shireen paid for with our money?,” asked the Institute for Policy Studies on Twitter. “The Leahy Law requires ending U.S. aid to any military unit that has committed a grave human rights violation. We need serious U.S. [and international] investigations—Israeli ‘investigations’ virtually always result in impunity from accountability for human rights violations and war crimes.”
The Biden administration publicly opposes the current United Nations Human Rights Council probe into whether Israel committed war crimes during its 2021 assault on Gaza. “We have concerns with the council,” Price told reporters last October. “We will vigorously oppose the council’s disproportionate attention on Israel, which includes the council’s only standing agenda item targeting a single country.”
Do we hear silence from the rest of her colleagues? Have we heard any of them step up and condemn this assassination of a much loved journalist? Are those who keep getting campaign donations from Israel’s lobbies and AIPAC proud they are supporting these cruel deliberate killings of unarmed civilians, including journalists, medics, and little children?
US tax payer money at work, folks.
Major kudos to Rashida Tlaib for stepping forth in the House on behalf of renowned Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and acknowledging her murder!