A new documentary produced by Zeteo claims it has identified the Israeli soldier who fatally shot Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank in 2022, and also reveals his fate. The film, titled ‘Who Killed Shireen?’, identifies the soldier as Alon Scagio, a then 20-year-old member of the Israeli military’s elite Duvdevan unit, who was serving for the first time in the West Bank in the spring of 2022.
Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed on May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli military raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
According to the documentary, citing two members of his unit who spoke with the film team, Scagio was the soldier who fired the fatal shots. The documentary also claims that after the Israeli military released its investigation into Shireen’s killing in September 2022, Scagio was transferred out of Duvdevan and made a sniper team commander with the Haruv reconnaissance unit.
He was reportedly killed on June 27, 2024, by a hidden explosive planted by Palestinian militants in Jenin, the same city where sources cited in the documentary claim he killed Shireen.
The documentary presents several significant revelations. It claims that within hours of Shireen’s death, the Israeli general responsible for the West Bank told the top U.S. general in Israel that an Israeli soldier probably killed her, despite the Israeli prime minister publicly blaming Palestinian militants. An anonymous Biden administration official is quoted as saying that an initial American assessment concluded an Israeli soldier intentionally shot Shireen and should have been able to see she was a journalist, but this assessment was rejected, and the U.S. publicly stated her killing was unintentional.
The official told the documentary team the Biden administration “failed” Abu Akleh to maintain its relationship with the Israeli government and that the U.S. should have “pressed the fact that an American citizen was killed intentionally by the IDF”.
The film also alleges that members of Scagio’s unit were so upset about his reputation being “sullied” after Shireen’s killing that they began using her photograph for target practice, according to one Israeli soldier. An alleged Israeli soldier is quoted in the film describing how in a split-second decision during an operation, upon seeing someone holding a camera or something similar, “you don’t need more than that to shoot the bullet”.
The identity of the Israeli soldier who fired the fatal shots has been described as a “closely guarded secret,” with Israel reportedly refusing to allow U.S. investigators to question the soldier or even reveal his name to American officials. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is quoted in the documentary saying that Prime Minister Netanyahu has “effectively given the finger to President Biden” on the matter.
Mehdi Hasan, CEO and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, stated that Shireen’s killing was one of the biggest stories globally in 2022, but three years later, there has been “no accountability,” which drove the commissioning of this investigation.
Ali Samoudi, Shireen’s producer, was shot and injured in the same incident. The documentary team interviewed Samoudi in Jenin while he was covering an ongoing Israeli military operation, but he has since been detained by the Israeli military.
The press release notes that since Shireen’s killing, Israel has become the most dangerous country for journalists, and the previous year was the deadliest year for journalists globally since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping records, with nearly two-thirds of the 124 journalists killed being Palestinians killed by Israel.
‘Who Killed Shireen?’ was commissioned by Zeteo and co-produced with District Bear Media. The investigative team included seasoned journalists Dion Nissenbaum, Fatima AbdulKarim, Conor Powell, and Ari Flanzraich. The documentary is available for viewing on the Zeteo website. Zeteo was founded by Mehdi Hasan in April 2024.
