Washington, DC – A spokesperson for the US State Division has confronted a barrage of questions on what the US has executed to get accountability for the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Al Jazeera journalist who was fatally shot by Israeli forces final yr.

At a information briefing on Wednesday, which coincided with World Press Freedom Day, Vedant Patel repeatedly advised reporters that Washington is looking for accountability by asking Israel to assessment its navy guidelines of engagement.

“[Reviewing] guidelines of engagement sounds prefer it’s one thing to discourage and stop this [from] taking place once more,” one visibly pissed off journalist mentioned. “Is there an lively effort of the US looking for accountability from Israel?”

Patel responded, “There may be an lively effort. And since Shireen’s tragic loss of life, we’ve got continued to press Israel to carefully assessment its insurance policies and practices on guidelines of engagements and contemplate extra steps to mitigate threat of civilian hurt and defend journalists.”

Subsequent week will mark the anniversary of the killing of Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter who was fatally shot by Israeli forces on Could 11, 2022, whereas masking a navy raid within the metropolis of Jenin within the occupied West Financial institution.

Al Jazeera Media Community mentioned that day that she was “assassinated in chilly blood”.

However Washington has rejected efforts to hunt accountability for the killing on the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC), drawing condemnation from press freedom and Palestinian rights advocates who’ve known as on US President Joe Biden’s administration to demand justice.

Israel, which rights teams accuse of imposing a system of apartheid on Palestinians, receives a minimum of $3.8bn in US safety help yearly.

Adam Shapiro, director of advocacy for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a US-based rights group, mentioned Washington’s response to the killing of Abu Akleh has been “pathetic from the beginning”.

He advised Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the Biden administration’s method to the case has been to “specific ideas and prayers” whereas attempting to “make it go away”.

‘Unintentional’

Though the US has not performed its personal investigation into the case, Patel mentioned on Wednesday that the killing of Abu Akleh was “unintentional”. He didn’t present any proof to again up that evaluation, which echoed Israel’s claims.

A number of investigations by rights teams and media shops, in addition to witness accounts, have solid doubt on the assertion that Abu Akleh’s killing was unintended, noting that she was identifiable by her press gear when she was fatally shot.

Abu Akleh additionally was not within the rapid neighborhood of any preventing, the stories discovered.

Washington known as for accountability within the case early on and mentioned the journalist’s killers “needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the regulation”.

Nevertheless, after Israel acknowledged that there was “excessive risk” its military fired the shot that killed Abu Akleh however dominated out a felony investigation into what occurred, US officers appeared to drop the decision for prosecuting the perpetrators.

Israeli leaders additionally brazenly rejected US requests to assessment its navy’s guidelines of engagement final yr. “Nobody will dictate our guidelines of engagement to us,” then-Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid mentioned.

Israeli and US media shops reported in November 2022 that the FBI had launched an investigation into the killing, and Israeli officers have dominated out cooperating with the purported probe. The US Justice Division has declined to substantiate the investigation.

Earlier this week, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen despatched a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the discharge of a brand new report on the incident drafted by the US Safety Coordinator (USSC).

Final yr, the USSC — which oversees and encourages safety cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian officers — mentioned the Israeli navy “was seemingly chargeable for the loss of life of Shireen Abu Akleh”.

It added, nevertheless, that there was “no purpose to consider that this was intentional however reasonably the results of tragic circumstances”.

The assertion was not a results of a full investigation, US officers mentioned on the time, explaining that it served as a abstract of Israeli and Palestinian probes. A Palestinian Authority investigation had mentioned weeks earlier that Israeli forces intentionally fired at Abu Akleh “with the intention to kill”.

On Wednesday, Patel on the State Division mentioned he has not seen the brand new USSC report, however his understanding is that it got here to the “identical conclusion”.

“I don’t have any extra updates or assessments to supply on this report,” he mentioned.

World Press Freedom Day

Earlier on Wednesday, US officers paid tribute to journalists on World Press Freedom Day, taking the chance to resume requires the discharge of Wall Road Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who’s imprisoned in Russia.

“Journalism isn’t against the law — it’s elementary to a free society,” Biden mentioned in a press release that failed to say Abu Akleh.

Blinken additionally launched a press release decrying assaults on reporters and calling for the rapid launch of Gershkovich, whom Washington has formally designated as wrongfully detained. The highest US diplomat didn’t point out Abu Akleh, both.

Blinken additionally joined Washington Submit columnist David Ignatius for an occasion marking World Press Freedom Day, however the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist was not raised of their 30-minute dialogue.

“President Biden and Secretary Blinken omitting the Israeli navy’s brutal homicide of Shireen Abu Akleh throughout World Press Freedom Day reveals a dehumanizing disregard towards Palestinians, in addition to a weak dedication by this administration to freedom of the press,” Ahmad Abuznaid, government director of the US Marketing campaign for Palestinian Rights, advised Al Jazeera in an e mail.

Shapiro, of DAWN, additionally described Washington’s failure to say Abu Akleh in official statements on Wednesday as “totally outrageous”.

“I believe, for Shireen, it’s undoubtedly as a result of it was Israel who killed her that the US needs it to go away,” he mentioned. “However the truth that she was additionally from Al Jazeera is a secondary issue that I believe shouldn’t be ignored.”