The Israeli military is not planning to investigate the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Israeli media reported.
Israel’s Military Police Criminal Investigation Division believes an investigation that treats Israeli soldiers as suspects will lead to opposition within Israeli society, according to Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.
“The IDF has confirmed to me that they will not be opening a criminal investigation into the death of al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed during a military operation in Jenin last week,” tweeted Anna Ahronhiem, senior journalist of The Jerusalem Post.
In response to the report, the slain journalist’s family said they were not surprised by the Israeli military potentially not investigating her death.
“We were expecting this from the Israeli side. That’s why we didn’t want them to participate in the investigation,” the family said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
“We urge the United States in particular – since she is a US citizen – and the international community to open a just and transparent investigation and to put an end to the killings,” read the family’s statement.
Veteran reporter Abu Akleh, 51, was killed by an Israeli soldier last Wednesday, according to witnesses and colleagues who were present when she was shot while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
