A new report by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) on the funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh claims that Arabic media sources actually back up the Israeli version of clashes at an eastern Jerusalem hospital between Palestinians and Israeli riot police.
The report also says the clashes were in part a result of Palestinians not wanting Abu Akleh to be seen as a Christian.
Abu Akleh, a journalist for the Arabic language Al-Jazeera television, was covering an Israel Defense Forces raid to arrest terrorists in the Palestinian Authority area of the Jenin camp on May 11 when she was shot and killed. The PA immediately blamed Israel and started using words like “assassination” and saying she had been “targeted” to describe her death.
The PA’s Health Ministry said its investigation was inconclusive. Israel said they were investigating whether Abu Akleh had been killed by an Israeli soldier accidentally but could not be sure unless they had the bullet. The PA has so far refused to work with Israel and hand over the bullet.
The story got even uglier when Israeli police clashed with a Palestinian mob at the hospital as Abu Akleh’s body was being taken for burial on Mt. Zion. Videos widely circulated on social media showed Israeli police beating back a mob and pallbearers nearly dropping her casket.
Israel said they were carrying out the pre-determined wishes of the family that the coffin would be carried in a hearse from the hospital to the church in the Old City and not on the shoulders of Palestinians.
PMW says it examined the broadcasts of official PA TV as well as Al-Jazerra “prior to and during the funeral of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, which confirms the Israeli version of the events that led to the violence.”
From actual quotes in the two media sources, PMW concluded that:
- “The motivation of the Palestinians who took her coffin to carry it on their shoulders and by foot was to avoid a funeral ‘as if a Christian woman died.’
- “Abu Akleh’s family had wanted her body taken by hearse to the church for the funeral, and not carried through the streets of Jerusalem.
- “When the hearse arrived to take the coffin to the church, the Palestinian mob that had gathered at the hospital prevented the car from reaching the entrance and receiving Abu Akleh’s body. Instead, it was the Palestinian mob that snatched the coffin and thereby disrupted the funeral. Israeli Police prevented further disruption.”
According to the PMW report entitled, “Palestinian mob tried to hijack Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral so it would not be ‘as if a Christian died’” the videos were disseminated to make it look like the Israeli police was interfering in the funeral.
“In fact, it was the exact opposite. It was a Palestinian mob that had hijacked the funeral and Israeli Police who were forced to intervene and have the funeral return to be held as the family planned,” says the report, written by PMW Founder and Director, Itamar Marcus.
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