A former US colonel who worked on a report on Israel’s killing of veteran Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, has accused the Biden administration of diluting the conclusions in the report to favour Israel and absolve it of responsibility.
Colonel Steve Gabavics said in an interview with The New York Times on Monday that he was "flabbergasted" that the State Department had called Abu Akleh’s killing in May 2022 "the result of tragic circumstances".
The US State Department said that they "found no reason to believe that this was intentional," despite rights groups stating that investigations showed she was directly targeted.
Israeli forces shot dead Abu Akleh, a US citizen of Palestinian origin, on 11 May while she was covering the Israeli siege and attack on Jenin refugee camp.
Gabavics, who left the government in January, was part of a team that was tasked by the Biden administration with compiling a report on the journalists’ killing.
At the time Abu Akleh was killed, Gabavics had been working at the inter-agency Office of the United States Security Coordinator, which oversees cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces.
In the interview, he emphasised that he was among a few officials who believed that Abu Akleh’s killing was intentional.
He said that he was troubled by the government’s account of what happened and that it "continued to be on my conscience nonstop" after he saw the evidence of what actually happened.
He pointed out that Abu Akleh was wearing a press vest which would have been very clear and distinctive to any soldiers in the area, so the likelihood of her being killed coincidentally was almost impossible.
He further noted that Israeli radio military traffic showed evidence that soldiers had been aware of the presence of journalists in the area when they opened fire. He also confirmed that the gunfire was only going in the direction of the journalists, and not the other way around.
In the interview, he highlighted that the precision of the shots showed that her killing was intentional and that the soldier shot first at the producer, then at Abu Akleh, and finally the person who tried to help her, showing again that she was directly targeted.
The chances of Abu Akleh being mistakenly targeted in crossfire or uncontrolled shooting were extremely low, he stressed.
"The individual popped out of the truck, just was randomly shooting, and happened to have really well-aimed shots and never looked down the scope. Which wouldn’t have happened," Gavabics said.
He added that he made his reservations and beliefs clear both orally and in writing, addressing General Michael R Fenzel, however, his comments did not appear in the assessment shared with the State Department.
He was later sidelined from the review after voicing his opinions, he said.
"The favouritism is always toward the Israelis. Very little of that goes to the Palestinians," Gabavics said, adding that the case had a profound and lasting impact on him due to the conclusions which he said were undeniable.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday issued a statement calling for an independent and transparent investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh following the interview with Gabavics.
"These new claims reinforce long-standing concerns CPJ and many other organizations, including Abu Akleh’s employer Al Jazeera, have raised that she was deliberately targeted while performing her duties as a journalist," the statement said.
"Despite extensive documentation and appeals from her family, colleagues, and press freedom groups, accountability remains elusive. The FBI launched an investigation into her death, but has not given any updates on its progress since it was announced in November 2022," it added.
CPJ’s CEO, Jodie Ginsberg, said the "US government owes the public — and Shireen Abu Akleh’s family — more than words of regret," and called for accountability to stop Israeli forces from committing more crimes against journalists.
In 2023, CPJ found that Abu Akleh’s killing and the army’s failure to take responsibility were part of a systematic pattern to evade accountability.