0:03

Al Jazeera Podcasts Hi,

0:11

it's Saril Khalili, a senior producer with

0:13

The Take. And this is

0:15

another Take. Stories from the

0:17

archives that are relevant again now. On

0:20

this day, May 11, two years

0:23

ago, our colleague Shireen

0:25

Aba-Akhle was shot and killed by

0:27

Israeli forces. Six

0:30

months later, the FBI opened

0:32

an investigation into her killing. Shireen

0:35

held Palestinian and American

0:38

citizenship. But Israel

0:40

has refused to cooperate with the probe.

0:44

Until now, the FBI has

0:46

not publicly released any findings,

0:48

nor has the investigation led

0:50

to any statements of responsibility

0:53

or arrests. On

0:55

Friday of this week, the Committee

0:57

to Protect journalists called on the

0:59

FBI to release a timeline for

1:01

the conclusion of its investigation. Today,

1:06

we're sharing a conversation we had

1:08

last year, on this day, with

1:10

some of our colleagues. We

1:13

talked about Shireen's life and

1:15

the investigation. Here

1:17

is that episode now. But remember,

1:19

none of the dates or other references have

1:21

changed from May 11, 2023, when it originated.

1:25

It's originally aired. Every

1:36

day is a surprise for a TV news producer.

1:39

Gotta leave the office and run and

1:41

figure something out. But

1:44

for Rania Zabaneh, one of Al

1:46

Jazeera's longtime journalists in the occupied

1:48

West Bank, some

1:50

days the surprises are harder

1:52

than others. I've been

1:54

covering this story for 20 years. You

1:56

know there are certain risks associated with

1:59

reporting under occupation. It's no secret. May

2:02

11, 2022 was one of those days. We're

2:07

going to bring you some breaking news.

2:09

An Al Jazeera correspondent has been shot

2:11

by Israeli forces. We understand that she's

2:13

been killed. The

2:16

woman Rani has spent almost every

2:18

day with, her mentor, her friend,

2:21

Shireen Abu Akhale, was gone.

2:24

I still find myself diving air initials on emails

2:26

I send at times before I have to remind

2:28

myself that she's not there anymore. Shireen's

2:31

always on my mind. Home,

2:33

work, in the field, she's

2:35

always present. Al

2:38

Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akhale, our

2:40

colleague, a Palestinian-American, and an

2:43

icon of Arab journalism, was

2:45

killed by Israeli forces a year ago today.

2:49

Since then, what's happened to

2:51

the pursuit of justice for Shireen? I'm

2:56

Alika Bilal, and this is The Tank. This

3:07

past year without Shireen has been very

3:10

difficult. You'd think that the wound

3:12

would start to heal with time, but it hasn't.

3:14

It's been only getting harder without Shireen around.

3:16

It feels like the office has

3:18

lost its soul in a way. Rania

3:21

says, little things come up every day

3:23

that have her thinking about Shireen and

3:26

their days in Al Jazeera's bureau together.

3:31

We used to talk about story ideas, check

3:33

facts, buy things online,

3:36

get food, talk about family. And

3:39

big things, too. When

3:41

I did my first on-air report a few

3:44

months ago, she was the first person I wanted

3:46

to share this with. But

3:49

she wasn't there. And

3:53

Shireen's absence leaves her with big

3:55

questions. The

3:57

fact that those who killed someone are seasoned.

4:00

as prominent as Shireen, someone with

4:02

a dual citizenship, an American-Palestinian journalist

4:04

who works with an international network

4:06

such as Al Jazeera, are

4:09

still not held accountable. Where does that leave

4:11

the rest of us? In

4:15

the years since Shireen was killed, there have

4:18

been numerous investigations by journalists,

4:20

human rights organizations, and governments.

4:23

And most of them, including Al

4:25

Jazeera's, point to the Israeli military

4:27

as the source of the bullet that Shireen was

4:29

shot with. Journalists

4:34

surrounded her. And

4:38

according to forensic architecture, architects

4:40

who do just that, examining

4:43

the bullet holes, it

4:45

was clear this was a targeted shooting. All

4:50

of these shots were kill shots aiming

4:52

from the shoulder of, and the old

4:54

shots fired where we then closed proximity

4:56

to one another. So the

4:58

marksman was determined and deliberately

5:01

targeting the journalists in that

5:03

incident. But

5:05

the Israeli investigation and the

5:07

U.S. investigation did not reach

5:09

that conclusion. Killing

5:14

Shireen was an accident, they said,

5:16

if the Israeli military fired the

5:19

shot. This is

5:21

State Department spokesperson Ned Price, citing

5:23

the U.S. security coordinator. The U.S.S.C.

5:25

found no reason to believe that

5:27

this was intentional, but rather the

5:29

result of tragic circumstances. That

5:32

left widespread frustration, including from

5:35

Shireen's family, led in the

5:37

U.S. by her niece, Lena

5:39

Haboakle. There hasn't been

5:42

any accountability from the U.S. If the

5:44

U.S. truly believes in accountability, then there

5:46

needs to be action, and this is

5:48

what we are calling for, for a

5:51

U.S. independent investigation. Shireen's

5:54

family pushed for one more

5:56

U.S. investigation, and they got it.

5:59

An FBI. investigation. Six

6:02

months after Palestinian American journalist

6:04

Shirin Abou-Akhle was killed, the FBI

6:06

announced it will open a

6:08

criminal probe into her death, a

6:11

rare and unprecedented step

6:14

in US-Israeli relations. That

6:17

investigation was announced last November

6:20

without Israeli support. Israeli

6:22

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that

6:24

he will not cooperate with a US

6:26

investigation into the death of Shirin

6:28

Abou-Akhle. Gantz tweeted that the

6:30

decision to conduct an investigation over the

6:33

journalist's death is a mistake. So

6:36

we called up our colleague Ali Harb

6:38

in Washington, D.C. to find out where

6:40

it is now. Did

6:43

you know our colleague Shirin Abou-Akhle at all?

6:46

I did not know Shirin personally,

6:49

but like many people who grew up in the Arab world,

6:55

I personally grew up in Beirut.

6:57

I know Shirin as the voice

6:59

of Palestine as she has become

7:01

to be named. She

7:07

was in our living room telling

7:11

Palestinian stories. At

7:17

the same time that I did not know her personally,

7:26

I feel like I knew Shirin

7:28

very well. Yeah, we know what

7:30

you mean. It's been one year since her

7:32

death now. How are

7:35

you feeling now? Especially

7:38

because I know a lot

7:40

of your reporting has revolved

7:42

around the investigation around her

7:44

death. As I cover

7:46

the American response, the Biden

7:48

administration's response to this case,

7:52

just frustration grows by the day.

7:54

I try to keep

7:56

my personal feelings out of the situation, but

7:59

it's incredibly difficult not

8:02

to be angry when you hear the

8:04

same statements from the State Department and

8:06

from the White House that

8:09

you know to be false. What

8:11

are those statements? We've

8:14

seen several contradictory

8:16

statements from this

8:18

administration and we've

8:20

seen several statements that are simply not

8:23

backed by any evidence.

8:29

As recently as May

8:31

3rd on World Press Freedom Day, the

8:34

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant

8:36

Patel was asserting as

8:39

a matter of fact that Shreen

8:41

was killed unintentionally. Our findings

8:43

that are consistent with the U.S.

8:45

security coordinators is that this was

8:48

unintentional and due to

8:51

incredibly tragic circumstances. When

8:54

we know from footage and eyewitnesses

8:57

that she was targeted,

9:00

there was nothing around her

9:02

that would invite the Israeli bullets.

9:05

There was no fighting, there was no

9:07

exchange of gunfire. She

9:10

was shot at repeatedly and

9:12

there was no fire being

9:15

returned but the shooter kept

9:17

the hail of bullets coming.

9:20

Yet the State Department

9:22

says this was unintentional and

9:25

I can't figure out how they would have

9:27

come up to this conclusion on their own.

9:31

I know that you spoke with Lina Abou

9:33

Akhle, Shreen's niece and other

9:36

members of her family as well when

9:38

they went to the Biden administration last

9:41

summer to ask for a more thorough

9:43

investigation into Shreen's killing. Do

9:45

you remember anything about that? They

9:48

were asking for an American investigation

9:50

for a transparent American investigation

9:52

into the

9:56

killing of an American citizen of

9:58

their aunt. their sister, of

10:01

their relatives. And

10:04

they met with Secretary of State

10:06

Antony Blinken in Washington,

10:10

but they were never given

10:12

a satisfactory answer.

10:15

President Joe Biden refused to meet

10:17

with the family, both

10:20

when he was in Palestine in

10:22

Israel and when they came

10:24

to Washington. What

10:26

I also got from Lena

10:29

is how difficult it has been for

10:31

the family to process

10:34

this enormous loss while

10:38

also pushing for

10:40

accountability and pushing for justice.

10:43

So there is a job to be done and

10:46

the grief is

10:48

taking a back seat or at least

10:50

it's not given enough space

10:53

to be processed in a healthy way. So

10:58

one of the reasons an FBI investigation

11:00

was called for were all

11:03

of these issues with the first

11:05

US investigation that I mentioned earlier.

11:08

The take team looked into the

11:10

Israeli and US probes into Shireen's

11:12

killing last fall. And

11:14

we found that neither Israel nor

11:17

the US interviewed any of the

11:19

Palestinian eyewitnesses who were with Shireen when she

11:21

was killed. The team spoke

11:23

to several of them, including Shada

11:25

Hanaysha, who like every other

11:27

witness we heard from insists Israelis

11:30

shot and killed Shireen. The

11:33

Israeli soldiers

11:35

that in that vehicle, they're

11:38

shooting us. They know that we

11:40

are journalists. We hear

11:42

the voice of that bullet, it's come

11:45

to us. And they

11:47

saw us. I'm very sure that they saw

11:49

us. So

11:52

Ali Sinson, the FBI

11:54

investigation that he's been looking

11:56

into, have they talked to

11:58

any Palestinians? Have they? found anything

12:00

new? Not that I

12:02

am aware of, but

12:06

what we do know about the first

12:09

quote-unquote investigation by the United

12:11

States government which they say

12:13

was a summation of

12:16

Israeli and Palestinian probes, not something

12:18

that they conducted

12:20

themselves, but rather an analysis

12:24

of data that were provided

12:27

by the two

12:29

sides, we know that

12:31

that investigation was not satisfactory,

12:34

it didn't talk to anyone.

12:36

Basically the first statement by

12:38

the US security coordinator took

12:41

Israel's word. They said

12:43

we have reason to believe that

12:45

Shreen was killed by an Israeli

12:47

soldier, but there is no indication

12:49

that she was targeted deliberately. I

12:52

am paraphrasing here. So

12:56

clearly that summation,

12:58

that statement, that report

13:01

did not meet the

13:04

basic definition of an

13:07

investigation that would

13:09

culminate in transparency

13:11

and accountability, which

13:13

is what the family has been calling for. As

13:16

for the FBI probe, we

13:18

really are not in the

13:20

right place and I know about how

13:22

it's proceeding or where it even

13:25

started. So that

13:30

remains to be

13:32

seen. So why the lack of progress? That's

13:34

after the break. So

13:54

Ali, I know that Shreen's

13:56

family members like Lina Avakle,

13:58

her niece, fought for the launch

14:01

of the FBI investigation. And it wasn't

14:03

just Lena. Dozens of congressional

14:05

leaders on Capitol Hill joined the

14:07

family in fighting for a real investigation.

14:10

What response have they gotten?

14:13

So it's interesting in this

14:16

case that you have a Congress

14:18

that's historically pro-Israel

14:21

and it was

14:23

able to come together even in

14:25

one instance on a bipartisan basis

14:28

in calling for an investigation. But

14:31

what we've heard from these lawmakers is

14:33

that they're not

14:35

getting satisfactory responses

14:37

from the administration. And

14:40

what the administration has been saying publicly

14:43

via State Department briefings is

14:46

that they're suggesting that they're

14:48

ready to turn the page. So

14:54

Al Jazeera Media Network is submitting

14:56

a case to the International Criminal Court

14:59

over Shadyen's killing. And the Biden

15:01

administration opposes this ICC investigation. What

15:04

do you know about where that

15:06

stands? So this

15:09

opposition to the ICC investigation

15:11

goes into the broader

15:15

conflict itself. Because

15:17

Palestinians have been saying for

15:19

years, where do

15:21

we turn to for accountability

15:24

for abuses? Where do

15:26

we turn to for

15:28

justice against

15:30

Israeli violations? And what

15:32

the American administration says,

15:35

this one and the Trump administration before

15:37

it and the Obama administration before it,

15:40

is that we do

15:42

not support ICC investigations

15:44

into the situation

15:46

in Palestine because Israel is not

15:49

a signatory to the ICC statute

15:53

and Palestine is not a state. So

15:56

this is where the cyclical logic comes

15:58

in. It's the same

16:00

logic that they are using to voice

16:04

opposition to any ICC involvement in

16:06

the killing of Shireen. And

16:09

in the investigation of the killing of Shireen, that

16:12

is. And they go

16:14

back to the

16:16

sound bite and the talking point that

16:18

Israel has the wherewithal to

16:21

investigate itself. So

16:25

then, does any of this surprise you?

16:28

Or is this business as usual when it comes to

16:30

the US administration's plural and

16:32

how they've

16:34

always dealt with Israel? Nobody

16:37

is surprised by the Biden administration's

16:40

reaction. It's not just me. It's

16:42

the Palestinian American journalist

16:44

I've spoken to. It's the Arab

16:46

American advocates I've spoken to. The

16:50

human rights campaigners I've spoken

16:52

to, everybody says this is

16:55

not surprising. Because for

16:58

the past seven decades and more,

17:02

successive US administrations have

17:05

shielded Israel from accountability when it

17:07

comes to abuses against the Palestinians.

17:13

We know that the US administration

17:15

is very hostile to

17:18

Palestinian efforts to seek accountability in

17:20

the International Criminal Court for war

17:22

crimes and for alleged

17:24

crimes against humanity committed by Israel.

17:28

An American citizen was killed.

17:31

A journalist doing

17:33

her job was killed.

17:36

And this is the very same administration

17:38

that came into office saying, we will

17:41

center human rights. We will

17:43

break away with Trump's

17:45

approach to autocrats and

17:48

his support

17:50

for abusers. So

17:52

when you put all of these elements

17:55

together, that this is an administration that

17:57

specifically wanted to pursue a principle.

18:00

polls and value-based foreign

18:02

policy with the fact

18:04

that an American was

18:06

killed, with the fact that a

18:09

correspondent was killed while reporting

18:11

the news. Our message is

18:13

this, journalism is

18:16

not a crime. If

18:18

Joe Biden was true about human

18:21

rights and about protecting journalists, and

18:23

if he means what he says

18:25

when he keeps saying journalism is

18:28

not a crime, and

18:30

if the State Department means what

18:32

it says when it says that

18:35

the safety of American citizens

18:37

across the world is its

18:39

top priority, what happens

18:41

in this case? Why

18:43

was Shireen, an American citizen,

18:45

treated differently? What

18:49

could have been done better? And

18:52

what would be seen as justice in the eyes of those

18:54

who have been fighting for it? Let's

18:57

start with the issue

18:59

of justice and accountability. The State

19:02

Department spokesperson

19:04

Ned Price, the day that

19:06

Shireen was killed, said those

19:09

responsible for Shireen's killing should

19:11

be prosecuted to the fullest

19:13

extent of the law. And

19:17

not just the soldier

19:19

who pulled the trigger is responsible

19:21

for Shireen's killing. The

19:23

chain of command all

19:26

the way up to the

19:28

officials who ensure this culture

19:30

of impunity or in devaluing

19:32

of the lives of Palestinians

19:35

should be brought to justice. American

19:38

taxpayers supply Israel with

19:40

$3.8 billion at least

19:42

in military assistance. So

19:45

the US administration could have used

19:47

that leverage to push Israel to

19:50

conduct its own investigation

19:52

that would culminate in the

19:55

prosecution of Shireen's killers. That

19:57

did not happen. The United States...

20:00

could have used measures

20:02

at its disposal to investigate

20:04

and then identify those responsible

20:06

for the killing of Shireen

20:09

all the way up the chain

20:11

of command of the Israeli military

20:13

and unilaterally imposed sanctions on them.

20:15

But we did not see any

20:17

of this. What we saw

20:19

is that the Biden

20:21

administration adopted and

20:24

embraced Israel's story that this was

20:26

accidental and they continue to do

20:28

so and they're turning the

20:30

page in this. We

20:36

cannot on a

20:38

personal level as journalists, as

20:42

colleagues of Shireen, we

20:45

cannot disconnect from the

20:47

emotions and the grief. An

20:50

attack on one journalist feels like

20:52

an attack on all journalists and

20:54

when that journalist worked for the

20:56

same media organization, it especially

20:59

feels personal. So,

21:04

Ali, do you think Lina and the

21:06

rest of Shireen's family will get what

21:08

they want? Will there

21:10

be justice for Shireen? It's

21:13

difficult to predict with

21:17

these cases, but

21:19

what I have heard from

21:22

Palestinian rights advocates, what the

21:24

family has said,

21:27

is that they will

21:29

continue to push for

21:31

accountability. They will continue

21:34

to push for justice. There's

21:37

an Arabic saying, a right is

21:39

never lost as long as it has

21:41

seekers. So, while

21:44

we don't know what the future may

21:46

hold, those seeking

21:48

justice for Shireen are adamant

21:50

on ensuring it. And

21:53

that includes Rania. She still

21:56

ventures through the occupied West Bank almost

21:58

daily, reporting the news. even

22:01

when it's hard, really hard.

22:04

The feeling of loss and injustice are

22:07

very much dominant in the office.

22:10

Especially with the ongoing daily killings,

22:12

Israeli raids have only been getting

22:15

more regular and more deadly. Since

22:18

the beginning of this year, more than 120 Palestinians

22:20

were killed. And

22:22

we're finding ourselves more on the street and in

22:25

the field, covering such raids and the aftermath.

22:28

And to think that Shireen was killed covering

22:30

a similar raid, wearing her

22:33

protective equipment helmet that

22:35

clearly marked as a member

22:37

of the press, still targeted them shots. With

22:40

no one held accountable for her murder a

22:42

year on, it's just

22:44

a scary feeling, no one is secure and

22:46

it's chilling. At

22:48

the same time, I have to say, we're

22:50

more determined to keep telling the story. Shireen's

22:54

passion, dedication, professionalism

22:57

is very much missing. Her presence,

22:59

her laughs, her kindness is missing

23:02

and it's not easy to get used to

23:04

her absence. It's

23:06

very hard, but it has also made us

23:08

stronger, if anything, for her. We need to

23:11

keep talking about Shireen and demand justice for

23:13

Shireen. She wouldn't have settled for anything

23:15

less if it was anyone else. And

23:21

that's The Take. We'll be

23:23

back on Friday. This

23:26

episode was produced by Amy

23:29

Walters and Ashish Mahhotra, with

23:31

Chloe Kay Lee, Nighin Oliye,

23:33

Miranda Lynn, Sonia Bagat, Khaled

23:35

Surzan and me, Malika Bilal.

23:38

Alex Rodian is our sound designer.

23:40

Adam Abugad and Munira Althussadi are

23:42

our engagement producers. Alexandra

23:44

Locke is The Take's executive producer and

23:47

Ne Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of

23:49

audio.