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The Biden administration dismissed and publicly contradicted an internal finding by a longtime military policeman that Israeli soldiers intentionally shot at and killed prominent Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022, the former official has said in his first public interview.
Col. Steve Gabavics was a top official in the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which conducted the U.S.’s investigation into the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist. Gabavics, a military policeman with three decades of experience, was the chief of staff to the office’s head, Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, at the time of the probe, The New York Times reports.
Gabavics was the lead investigator on the case, he says, and had three others working with him. The team conducted an on-the-ground probe into the killing. Gabavics concluded that it would have been “the most absurd thing in the world” for the shooting to have been accidental, and that “we had everything there” to show that it was intentional.
“The individual popped out of the truck, just was randomly shooting, and happened to have really well-aimed shots and never looked down the scope. Which wouldn’t have happened,” he told the Times.
This conclusion was based on numerous factors, he said, including Israeli military communications showing that soldiers were aware that journalists were in the region that day; the fact that a sniper in an Israeli military vehicle had a clear line of sight to Abu Akleh that morning; and that the team did a simulation of where Abu Akleh and the soldier were at the time of the shooting, and a blue “Press” vest was clearly visible to where the shooter was positioned.
Despite this, and despite Gabavics’s continued insistence that the office’s report on the shooting include this conclusion, Fenzel disagreed. He continually deleted language on Israel’s culpability, seeking to preserve the office’s relationship with the military, sources told the Times.
Then, the State Department released a statement saying that the government concluded that the Israeli shooting was not intentional. It said the office found “no reason to believe” it was anything other than “the result of tragic circumstances.” This echoed Israel’s own findings that Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by Israeli gunfire.
Gabavics said the State Department’s statement “flabbergasted” him and his colleagues.
In the liaison’s office, “the favoritism is always toward the Israelis. Very little of that goes to the Palestinians,” he said.
Gabavics had previously spoken out about the probe’s conclusions in a documentary, “Who Killed Shireen?”, by Zeteo, but had remained anonymous at the time.
Abu Akleh was a well known journalist who was reporting on an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank when Israeli forces shot and killed her. Her death sent shockwaves throughout the region, and the U.S. never sought accountability for her killing. Facing pressure, the Biden administration opened an FBI probe into her killing in 2022, but it was never released.
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