WHEN Israel stooped low to murder 51-year-old Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist in cold blood to prevent her from reporting the truth about the brutal treatment suffered by the Palestinians by the Zionist regime, it is a sign the country is moving south, following the path of the former apartheid regime of South Africa.
Shireen, who worked for Al Jazeera for 25 years, was one of the most prominent names across the Middle East for her decades of experience reporting conflict in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
She was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, despite wearing a blue vest with “PRESS” written on it.
The famed reporter was shot in the face, on purpose, while doing what she has been doing since 1997 for Al Jazeera – telling the truth. She was killed for telling, yet again, the truth about how Israel had terrorised and murdered helpless Palestinians for decades.
She did her job well – with grace, patience and resilience despite the indignities, horrors and dangers. It was her duty, obligation and responsibility to bear witness.
But even in death Shireen was not spared. Television worldwide showed how her casket almost fell on several occasions during her funeral as Israeli security forces beat up the pallbearers – a testament on how the brutal Israeli forces have no qualms disrespecting even the deceased.
This time around, international condemnation for the killing and the brutal treatment of mourners were came swiftly. For the first time, Israel’s “supreme protector and ATM machine”, the US has come out to support Palestinians, in contrast to abstentions or elegant silences of the past.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for “an immediate and credible investigation into the circumstances surrounding Shireen’s death,” expressing condolences for her loss and deep respect for the “work that she did as a journalist for many years – widely respected around the world.”
On the brutal treatment of the Israeli security forces on unarmed mourners, Blinken said: “We are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “We are heartbroken by and strongly condemn the killing”, calling it an “affront to media freedom everywhere” and said the perpetrators “must be held accountable”.
The US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Shireen’s death “really horrifying,” and called for a transparent and thorough investigation.
US Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote on Twitter: “The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is an horrific tragedy”, to which Al Jazeera columnist Andrew Mitrovica replied sarcastically: “Newsflash, Speaker Pelosi, shooting a Palestinian-American journalist in the face on purpose is not a ‘tragedy’. It is a crime. We know, we know, Israeli soldiers never commit crimes.”
Double standards by the West
It is quite unprecedented for a long list of US high-ranking officials to comment on such killing – a normal and routine affair in Israeli-occupied territories.
Perhaps, this has a lot to do with the Russia-Ukraine war where the US’ double standard is all too-apparent to see, in which the US is superfast in condemning perceived atrocities and injustices suffered by the Ukrainians as compared to its abstentions and elegant silences on the atrocities and injustices of Israel towards the Palestinians.
At the recent ASEAN-US Special Summit on May 14 in Washington, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was the only leader courageous enough to highlight Israel’s atrocities towards the Palestinians during the meeting with US President Joe Biden.
He called for Washington to use its influence in resolving the Palestinian issue. “Israeli atrocities must be stopped. The US must be honest in resolving the issue. If the US can take swift action in Ukraine, we want the same swift action to be taken on the Palestinian issue,” he said.
On the conflict in Ukraine, the US and its European allies seemed to be getting lukewarm response from many countries for advocating a global coalition of the willing to enforce sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine (See diagram below).
Perhaps this was among the main reason why a special summit of the US president with ASEAN leaders was held – ostensibly to get their buy-in, in supporting the coalition of the willing to impose a global sanction on Russia, instead of giving more emphasis on working via diplomacy to end the war.
On the Russia-Ukraine war, ASEAN leaders told the US president it wanted the crisis to be resolved on the negotiation table. Ismail Sabri told the Malaysian media: “War does not benefit anyone. In fact, many would suffer great losses because of the war.”
Ismail Sabri was spot on in his comment. However, he should have added, ie. the war will only enrich the US and Europe’s military-industrial complex in producing more weapons of mass destruction.
The Malaysian PM also pointed out that Southeast Asian countries were also affected by the war, especially in terms of the rise in inflation and food prices. Hence, the call for the war to be resolved through peaceful means. – May 24, 2022
Jamari Mohtar is the Editor of Let’s Talk!, an e-newsletter on current affairs.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
