Palestine: Abbas 'dares' US to prosecute American citizen Akleh killers

Mahmoud Abbas

24 Sep 2022; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of killing Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and urged the US to prosecute her killers.

Abbas announced before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly that Israel is killing the Palestinian people without accountability, as it did with Shireen Abu Akleh: "Who was killed by a sniper's bullet intended to kill her, and Israel admitted that the sniper did indeed kill her."

He added that Abu Akleh holds American citizenship in addition to her Palestinian nationality and urged: "I dare the US to punish, hold accountable or prosecute the killers who killed her. Why? Because they are Israelis."

Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli bullets on 11 May while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin camp in the northern occupied West Bank.

For the first time, the Israeli occupation army admitted this month that there is a "high possibility" that one of its soldiers killed the Palestinian journalist in May.

Abu Akleh was wearing a bulletproof vest with the word "press" emblazoned across it and a protective helmet when a bullet hit her.