WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
Cape Town - While the circumstances around the murder of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh remains unclear and under investigation, the media network condemned Israel’s killing and called it a ‘blatant murder’.
Al Jazeera Media Network released a statement on Wednesday, following the death of the 51-year-old journalist, who was shot in the head while covering the Israeli raids in Jenin, and said Israeli forces had assassinated her in cold blood, early on Wednesday morning.
The network further extended its condolences to Shireen’s family in Palestine, and pledged to prosecute the perpetrators legally.
“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns this heinous crime, which intends to only prevent the media from conducting their duty.
“Al Jazeera holds the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the killing of Shireen. It also calls on the international community to condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for their intentional targeting and killing of Shireen,” read the statement.
Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israeli forces in West Bankhttps://t.co/IakZtGR1Cs
— Anadolu Images (@anadoluimages) May 11, 2022
🎥: Al Jazeera pic.twitter.com/AHt8kqwqQU
#Breaking: Israeli forces have shot dead a senior Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was reporting on a raid in occupied West Bank.
pic.twitter.com/J6rrPeC0Yv
News about her death has spread far and wide, with the Media Review Network South Africa also condemning the attack by the Israeli Terror Forces and called on all media platforms in the South African National editors Forum (SANEF) to condemn the senseless attack on media freedom in occupied Palestine.
“We call upon media houses to be acutely aware of the Zionist propaganda machine attempting to sanitise the gravity of this assassination,” read the statement by the Media Review Network.
“This is undoubtedly meant to obfuscate this assassination by presenting the warped narrative that the Al Jazeera journalist was simply 'caught in the crossfire’,” it said.
The Media Review Network added that it should be noted there are no clashes in Occupied Palestine and that this that “this is a settler colonial entity occupying the land of indigenous Palestinians”.
Fellow journalist Mujahid Al Saadi recalled the moment when Shireen was shot and said she had been wearing a helmet, but the bullet was aimed under her ear.
“The occupation was adamant about killing us through snipers,” said Al Saadi.
He added that his colleague had fell to the ground wearing a press vest.
Palestinian journalist Mujahid Al Saadi recounts the moment when veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/3Evs2IKiN2
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 11, 2022
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