The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced it will be looking into the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The investigation shows how the agency is being weaponised politically and highlights shameful double standards in the way Israel is treated compared with other countries.
The 51-year-old Abu Akleh was killed during a gunfight between heavily armed Palestinian terrorists and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There are many unknowns about the incident, but it is highly likely Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli bullet.
Israel launched an investigation into the killing which was hindered by the Palestinian Authority and the terrorists who fought against the IDF that day. Despite this hindrance, Israel concluded that it was likely responsible and even looked through all the evidence it was given by the Palestinians with US officials standing with them.
The US is fully aware of all the details of the case. Therefore, it is bizarre the FBI is now opening its own investigation. Apparently, it opened the case due to political pressure and without the guidance of the Biden Administration.
What’s most concerning is how this sort of incident is very rarely investigated by the FBI. In fact, dozens of journalists are killed in conflict zones around the world, including US citizens, and no investigations take place.
We don’t know the full details, but we do know that the FBI and the United States are wrong to investigate this issue. The US has argued against the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating Israel, the US and other allies precisely because they can carry out their own investigations. But now the FBI isn’t trusting Israel’s investigation, which is even more bizarre knowing that the US was involved in Israel’s investigations from the outset.
Lahav Harkov from the Jerusalem Post highlights the double standards when she noted how the FBI currently has an arrest warrant on their website for Palestinian terrorist Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi. Tamimi murdered 15 people in a bombing at a pizzeria in Israel and injured 122 other people. Two of those killed were US citizens. The FBI is offering $5 million for information leading to Tamimi’s arrest.
“Here’s a tip: She’s in Jordan, hosting a talk show on Hamas TV”, said Harkov.
Harkov won’t be receiving any compensation for this tip because the FBI doesn’t care. Tamimi is not hiding from anyone. She’s in plain sight hosting a TV show in Jordan and regularly speaking as a celebrity for Palestinians.
“Despite an ongoing campaign by the family of one of the Sbarro attack victims, Malki Roth, which has received significant attention in Jewish media and Israeli media in English, Washington has not done much to press Jordan on the matter. There’s no indication the Biden administration has done anything at all,” Harkov writes.
“And, of course, the Sbarro attack is just one example… but there are 49 US citizens… that have been murdered by Palestinians since then. The FBI doesn’t seem to have done much to get justice for them, either,” adds Harkov.
This is a shocking double standard where Israeli-Americans are murdered by Palestinians and nothing happens. A legitimate mistake by Israel, however, results in an FBI investigation.
Caroline Glick said the FBI was being “weaponised” against Israel and slammed the way the Biden administration has handled the entire affair.
“What is the Biden administration up to?” asks Glick.
“The answer is self-evident. President Biden and his advisers are demonizing America’s most powerful and loyal ally in the Middle East because they don’t see Israel as a foreign policy issue. They see it as a domestic political one. The progressive base of the Democratic Party backs Palestinian terrorists, supports their terror campaigns against Israel and rejects Israel’s right to exist and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination. And the Biden administration is captivated by its base. There is no other possible explanation for the FBI’s investigation,” Glick says.
Adding: “Journalists are killed in all war zones. The United States would never investigate British or French soldiers. They would never investigate Ukrainian soldiers. They would never investigate their own soldiers for actions leading to the death of reporters embedded with terrorists during a firefight. All U.S. foreign and defense policy professionals know there is nothing to investigate either legally, morally or operationally. And they know that there is no way any U.S. ally other than Israel would ever be treated this badly.”
There is a lot of speculation that the change in direction from the US is because Israel’s elections resulted in a much more right-wing government. Maybe this is a warning sign from the US? Or it could be that now the hurdle of the midterms is out of the way, the Democrats don’t see the need to pander to US-Israel supporters anymore. Or, it could simply be the FBI acting independently.
We don’t know all the ins and outs, but we strongly object to this investigation. The United States would never allow such an investigation against their own soldiers. It is shameful that they are doing this to Israel.
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