Israel cannot win public-opinion battle over journalist's death
Israel knows that regardless of who shot Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, it cannot win the public opinion battle being waged across the Middle East and beyond.
It seems that Israel cannot win the public opinion battle being waged across the Middle East and beyond over the May 11 shooting death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank town of Jenin. The odds are stacked against it by Palestinians and other Arabs, human rights organizations and even friendly foreign governments.
Israel is making concerted efforts to fight back, unlike past incidents when it abandoned the public opinion arena. The most famous such incident, highly reminiscent of Abu Akleh’s killing, was the 2000 shooting death of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durrah during a clash between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. Television footage showing the child cowering next to his father and the Palestinian narrative blaming Israel for his killing echoed around the world. Israel denied responsibility for his death, but various probes were inconclusive.
Interim findings by the military’s Central Command of this week’s shooting death are also inconclusive. According to the military spokesperson, an initial probe explored two possible sources of the shooting — armed Palestinians firing at Israeli soldiers or an Israeli soldier firing from his jeep at a militant standing near the journalist, about 200 meters away.
Shireen Abu Akleh was one of the best-known reporters in the Middle East, a star of the Arabic-language Al Jazeera network, which Israel regards as a media outlet that uses its influence to foment incitement against it. Abu Akleh was often dubbed the “face of the Palestinians” and her tragic death during an operation by Israel’s elite Duvdevan commando unit has become a public relations nightmare.
