In an email conversation, Al Jazeera’s newsdesk told Shireen Abu Akleh that they would keep a spot for her “at the top of the hour” after she said she was going to cover an Israeli operation in the Palestinian town of Jenin.
“But she never turned up”, the Arabic Channel’s Head of Output, Mohamed Moawad, said, as he fought back tears and spoke about his final contacts with the veteran journalist who went on the risky mission. “The last communication was 20 minutes before this heinous crime happened”, Moawad disclosed to the media shortly after Al Jazeera staff held their own broadcast tribute to the 51-year-old.
“She sent an email that said ‘Hi, there is an Israeli intervention in Jenin and I am heading there now. I am almost there. I will send you details.”
Arabic Channel’s Head of Output, Mohamed Moawad
However, instead of her live report from the raid, it was rather turned into images on social media, indicating that she was shot dead. Moawad continued to say that another journalist soon sent a message informing them she died three kilometres (nearly two miles) from the edge of Jenin on the West Bank. She was with four other journalists, all wearing blue press vests and helmets, according to the Al Jazeera Chief.
Another Al Jazeera journalist, Haitham Abu Saleh, paid tribute to Abu Akleh at the Pan-Arab broadcaster’s Doha Headquarters. The Qatari state-owned channel intimated that Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American, was killed “in cold blood” and demanded that Israeli forces be held accountable.
What is Israel Saying About the Issue?
Israel said it is investigating the death but denied Abu Akleh was deliberately hit. According to the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, he said it was “likely” she was hit by Palestinian gunfire.
A Moment of Difficulty for Staff
Moawad continued with his arguments that “We consider this something intentional because the bullet hit exactly the area below her ear where there is no cover”, adding that “reckless” comments were made in Israel about the killing.
The staff of Al Jazeera shed tears during the minute when the company’s broadcasts were silenced as means to show tribute to the demise of their colleague, who joined the channel shortly after it opened operations in 1996. “There are so many videos showing Shireen getting attacked by Israeli forces, getting attacked by bullets and other stuff”, adding that Abu Akleh had never complained about her own safety.
“She was always there covering the story without any kind of fear. We never assigned Shireen to do a story, she was just there. She showed up.”
Arabic Channel’s Head of Output, Mohamed Moawad
Hoda Abdel-Hamid, a Senior Correspondent at Al Jazeera, said Abu Akleh was “extremely brave. But she was also a very experienced journalist. She was not one to take stupid risks for the hell of it” after she also returned from her mission in Ukraine.
“I am pretty sure that today she was in a safe place, in a place that was for journalists and she was clearly marked. She wouldn’t be jumping in the crossfire just for the hell of it. She wouldn’t do that.”
Hoda Abdel-Hamid, a Senior Correspondent at Al Jazeera
Many who worked with Abu Akleh embraced in the newsroom, clutching portraits of the journalist and sheets stating “Journalism is not a crime”, as images showing the latest violence in the Palestinian territories flashed upon their work screens.
Abu Akleh, the second journalist hired by Al Jazeera in the Palestinian territories, has become the 12th journalist from the channel to be killed on duty since the firm began broadcasting. Mohamed Moawad, giving her final remark about Abu Akleh “She was everywhere where there was a story. She has been everywhere to give voice to the voiceless,” said Moawad.
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