The FBI will investigate the murder of US citizen Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The investigation to which Israel reacted is discussed in terms of relations of the potential Israeli government led by Netanyahu with the Biden government.

The FBI will investigate the murder of US citizen Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The investigation to which Israel reacted is discussed in terms of relations of the potential Israeli government led by Netanyahu with the Biden government.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has started an investigation into the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who is also an American citizen. The US Department of Justice has informed the Israeli Ministry of Justice about the FBI’s investigation into the death of Al Jazeera reporter Abu Akleh, who was killed on 11 May in the occupied West Bank. At the end of the process, it was stated that the United States could make a request for the investigation of Israeli soldiers that are involved in the incident.

The investigation decision came after more than 20 US senators signed a joint letter calling for an independent FBI investigation. “This is an overdue but necessary and important step in the pursuit of justice and accountability in the shooting death of American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” US Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Twitter, welcoming the decision. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a prominent figure in the Israeli lobby, criticised the decision, saying that the Biden government is addressing Netanyahu and Israel: “Joe Biden and his government view Israel and his elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as political enemies and therefore respond to them the way they respond to all their political enemies: unleashing the FBI on them.”

Israel is reactive while Palestinian is content

The news of the investigation shocked Israel. “I made it clear to the United States that we will not cooperate with any external investigations and that we will not allow any interference in Israel’s internal affairs,” Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said on his Twitter account, describing the decision to investigate as a “serious mistake”. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also said that they would not allow the FBI or any other foreign country organization to investigate Israeli soldiers, no matter how friendly, and added: “Our strong protest has been passed on to the Americans.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is satisfied with the decision: “This decision reflects the belief on the American side that, although it was overdue, there was no serious investigation by Israel, that Israel saw it as a formality and that it was using it as an attempt to cover up criminals and murderers.”

What happened?

Al Jazeera’s experienced field reporter, Abu Akleh, had been killed by fire opened by Israeli soldiers on 11 May while covering an attack by Israeli forces on a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Cenin. Ali es-Sumudi, the journalist who was with Abu Aqilah, was also injured in the back. The fact that Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli soldiers with real bullets, even though she was wearing a vest with “press” written on it while she was on her duty, caused reactions. Investigations and inquisitions made by several international institutions have concluded that Abu Aqile was targeted and killed by Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army, which has repeatedly denied responsibility for the incident and blamed the Palestinian armed groups, announced in its final report, issued on 5 September following international reactions, that “it is highly possible Abu Akleh was accidentally killed by the fire of the Israeli army”.

Far-right and democrats of Israel

It was noteworthy that after the elections in Israel, the former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, was given the task of forming a government, followed by this step from the United States. The possibility of giving important ministries to Itimar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, with whom Netanyahu is preparing to form a coalition, is making the Western “democracies” uneasy due to the strict and formalist anti-Arabism of these names. US President Joe Biden’s government is forcing Netanyahu not to appoint Smotrich as defence minister, Israeli media reported. In this context, the Israeli general opinion in the press regarding the FBI investigation is that the decision was made under pressure of the Democrats in Congress. On the other hand, it is remarked that it reveals the changes in the relations between the Democratic Party and Israel and that the relations between the two countries are at a turning point in their history.

How will it affect the investigation at the ICC?

Jerusalem Post’s intelligence, terrorism and legal analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob discussed the possible effects of FBI’s investigation on the “war crimes commited in Israel” investigation at the ICC in his analysis that is titled “Is the Ben-Gvir effect wounding Israel before he even takes office?”. Former ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced in March 2021 that Israeli authorities had launched an investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. However, no concrete steps were taken in the investigation after Bensouda handed over his seat to Karim Khan in June 2021. In his analysis, Yonah Jeremy Bob pointed out that the discovery of Israeli local courts’ neglect of any war crimes allegations would strengthen the hand of the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor. Because, in accordance with the principle of “a person cannot be tried twice for a crime”, the ICC cannot file a lawsuit if the perpetrator of the crime is subject to the trial of the state in which he/she is a national. However, some gaps such as “ the collapsed judicial system” give the ICC jurisdiction.

At this point, Jeremy Bob says, “If even Israel’s most powerful ally, the US, is ready to launch its own investigation against Israelis, and if the Israeli Defence Forces’ investigation is declared inadequate, what could stop the ICC from concluding that the broader Israeli legal system is inadequate.”

‘Biden’s method of threatening’

Without any suspects and direct evidence, which Israel has already announced it will not share, the FBI’s investigation will be very limited. Bob doesn’t think Biden is planning to put bilateral relations in a major crisis by blaming a higher-level Israeli soldier. The only possibility that prompted Biden to take this step is the Itamar Ben-Gvir effect, according to Bob: “The US announcement of the FBI investigation came shortly after American authorities reportedly warned Netanyahu not to assign Ben-Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich to key security posts. There is no implicit threat: the Biden government has made it clear that they will not work with any of these men as Secretary of Defense or Minister of Public Security. (…) In addition, at least one wing of the Democrats (against Israel) is campaigning for an investigation, and the by-elections in the US are now over, meaning that a new fight with Israel will not cost the US a great deal in the elections. This could be a method for the Biden government to threaten Netanyahu about how bad he could get if he gave Ben-Gvir some real power. ”

‘Slap in the face of the Israeli government’

The issue was also addressed in the editorial of the Jerusalem Post. “It is hard to believe that the FBI will conclude anything other than the completed investigations,” the editorial said, pointing out that some of the results of Israeli investigations into the murder of Abu Aqile, including the US, have been shared with Washington. Israel, however, is a slap in the face of Jerusalem (referred to as West Jerusalem) as it moves to a new government led by Yair Lapid and Benjamin Netanyahu. ”

Although they understand the investigation into the death of a murdered American citizen, it seems to have upset and shocked the Jerusalem Post editors that the country in question is Israel: “Such investigations are not the norm when it comes to a close ally of the United States, such as Israel, who knows that Washington respects the supremacy of law and has an independent, reliable judiciary. Friends don’t treat friends that way, and we strongly invite our American allies to reconsider their decisions. ”

According to Israeli media, the United States told Netanyahu that it would not be able to establish relations with Smotrich or Ben-Gvir if they were appointed to the Defence and Homeland Security Ministries.

‘As if the occupation was an internal matter…’

Although the Israeli press is stunned and angry, there are those who do not agree with the United States. One of them is Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz, which stands out with its leftist views. Haaretz criticizes the Israeli investigation into the murder and its consequences in his editorial titled “If the army investigates itself”. The Israeli Army’s internal investigation points out that it took Abu Akleh four months to accept the possibility that she was killed by a bullet from the Israeli soldier’s gun. In addition, the editorial cited that even this semi-joint acceptance comes after the results of an investigation conducted by a number of organisations, including the UN, points out that “if the investigation were conducted by an independent Israeli judiciary rather than by the Israeli Army, the results might be more acceptable”. In this context, it is pointed out that if the new Israeli government’s plan to control the judiciary is put into effect, Israel’s demands for “intervention” in its internal affairs will even be stronger.

According to the editorial, it is wrong to associate the FBI’s investigation decision with pressure that is put by Democrats demanding a firm stance against Israel: “Instead, Israel better start internalising that the world, including the United States, is beginning to look at what is happening in Israel more harshly. The possibility that the international community – as if the occupation of another country for more than 50 years were all about Israel’s own internal matter – will not interfere with ‘Israel’s internal affairs’ is losing its power. ”