Since the first moments of the spread of news of the martyrdom of Shireen Abu Aqleh, most of the Israeli media have adopted the official Israeli accounts that a Palestinian gunman killed Shireen and wounded her colleague Ali Al-Samudi.
This narrative did not stand up to the testimonies, evidence and videos that reinforce every day the direct and deliberate responsibility of the occupation in targeting the group of journalists.
A Hebrew website 0404 owned and operated by a right-wing Israeli named Boaz Golan published a story at 7:54 a.m. saying, "Our forces shot and wounded a number of saboteurs - a journalist on Al Jazeera was killed."
The text was accompanied by the video clip on which the Israeli version relied in claiming that a Palestinian gunman's bullet hit and killed Shirin
Adoption of the official Israeli narrative is expected in light of the Zionist intellectual premises of Israeli journalists that present the defense of Israel even when it kills the Palestinians, but what is much worse is the case of the attack and perhaps the cure for the martyrdom of Shirin, which was expressed by Israeli journalists who are described as senior correspondents and presenters on Israeli channels. .
The state of recovery came during the Israeli media's attempt to discuss the effects of the crime committed against Shirin, from the moment she was targeted until her burial, on Israel's image globally.
The ugliness in the Israeli press coverage is that the main goal of journalists and analysts was not to uncover the killer, but to exonerate him, and to discuss how to mitigate the damage done to Israel's image immediately after the crime, and after the brutal and inhumane attack on its mourners in Jerusalem and in front of the cameras of the whole world.
Selective narration and presentation of data on facts
With the exception of one Hebrew news site, 0404, owned and operated by a right-wing Israeli named Boaz Golan, which has many followers and a prominent presence in the Israeli media arena, the Hebrew media did not report a story that indicated in the early hours of the event that army soldiers wounded Palestinian gunmen in a camp Embryo.
“0404” for those who used to follow their coverage of Palestinian operations against Israeli targets, is one of the first sites in publishing the details of the events, including publishing pictures that appear to be taken by the Israeli soldiers and sent to the site immediately, including pictures of the perpetrators of the operations and the Palestinian weapons used in them sometimes, and after a short time Very start receiving news about the operation.
This site, on the same Wednesday morning, published a news item at 7:54 a.m. saying, "Our forces shot and wounded a number of saboteurs - a journalist on Al Jazeera was killed."
The text was accompanied by the video clip on which the Israeli version was based in claiming that it was a Palestinian gunman's bullet that wounded and killed Shireen.
It seems that those who sent the information about the shooting and wounding of Palestinian "militants" were the same soldiers who were at the scene.
Note that no one was injured except Shireen and Ali on that day, and this may be an indication that the soldiers confessed to killing Shireen.
The army acknowledges the injury of Palestinians
Most of the Israeli media quickly adopted the official version published by the occupation army at 7:45 a.m. on its Twitter account, and stated, “Forces of the army, the Shin Bet, and the Border Police worked in the last hours in the Jenin refugee camp near the village of Burqin and in several locations in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Al-Gharbia) with the aim of arresting terrorist suspects.. As part of the operation in Jenin camp, suspects fired heavy fire and threw explosive devices at our forces, and the force responded with fire, and injuries were identified, and there are no injuries among our forces. Appears to be shot by Palestinian gunmen. The event is under examination."
Here the army admits that its soldiers wounded Palestinians, and again, on that day, only journalists Sherine and Ali were injured.
כוחות צה"ל, שב"כ ומג"ב פעלו בשעות האחרונות הפליטים ג נין נין בסמוך לכפר ובמספר מוקדים נוספים ברחבי יהודה ושומרון מנת לעצור חשודים בפעילות טרור >>
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 11, 2022
The website of the Israeli newspaper “Maariv” republished this tweet a minute after it was posted on the account of the army, while the newspaper “Yediot Aharonot” published the news of Shirin’s death minutes after the announcement of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, noting that she was killed during an “exchange of fire in Jenin refugee camp.” The tweet referring to the news - updated later - wrote, "Yediot Ahronot" that "a prominent reporter on the island was killed during an exchange of fire in the Jenin camp."
כתבת בכירה באל-ג'זירה נהרגה בחילופי אש במחנה הפליטים ג'נין
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https://t.co/GVwDO0mwFG pic.twitter.com/5o7ODToOls
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) May 11, 2022
In the following tweet, the newspaper re-published a tweet by the journalist working in it, Elisha Ben Kimon, which stated what was stated in the army’s statement above, along with the video clip of the Palestinian gunman referred to.
פעילות שהחלה לפנות בוקר של יחידת דובדבן למעצר מבוקשים בגנין.
במהלך הפעילות החלו מחבלים ליידות מטענים רימונים וירי לעבר הכוחות שהשיבו באש.
בחלק מהמקרים זוהו פגיעות.
הפלסטינים מדווחים על עיתונאית אל גזירה שנהרגה מחילופי האש.
בצהל בודקים את האירוע.
pic.twitter.com/y81XwO04xO
— Elisha Ben Kimon אלישע בן קימון (@elishabenkimon) May 11, 2022
Then Yedioth Ahronoth re-published a tweet by journalist Liad Ozmo saying, "Al-Jazeera channel reported a few minutes ago that the veteran correspondent of the channel, Sherine Abu Akleh, died of her injuries, according to their claim, after she was shot by the army...."
ערוץ אל-ג׳זירה עדכן לפני מספר דקות כי הכתבת הוותיקה של הוותיקה של הוותיקה של הערוץ שירין אבו עאקלה מתה מפצעיה מתה מפצעיה מתה מפצעיה מתה מפצעיה מתה מפצעיה, לאחור של של של שח של של של שר
סיקרה את הזירה למעלה מ-20 שנה.
״יש לנו תיעוד שמוכיח שלבשה אפוד של עיתונאים״, אמר שדר הערוץ בדיווח pic.twitter.com/44fll0yUlr
— Liad Osmo (@liadosmo) May 11, 2022
On the Israeli television channels, the situation was not much different. The main narrator was the army's, and the Palestinian narrator remained in the Israeli circle of denial or skepticism.
However, over time, the Israeli narrative began to crumble with the publication of investigations from the site, such as the investigation of the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories - B'Tselem, which proved the impossibility that the bullets fired by the Palestinian gunman had hit Shirin, and a number of journalists also presented a presentation of the geographical nature of the site As for the place where Shirin was wounded and the location of the army's presence, as well as the gunman, which completely negates the Israeli account.
Here, the Israeli officials themselves began to recede somewhat from the first story, and raise doubts about the source of the bullet, by putting the possibility that it was shot by the army or by Palestinian gunmen.
This was stated by the Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Aviv Kohavi, on Wednesday afternoon, with his announcement that the preliminary investigation indicated the possibility that an Israeli soldier had fired the fatal bullet.
Journalists or spokespeople for the army?
In the studios of the Israeli channels, the case of Sherine Abu Aqleh was very present, and the news bulletins witnessed a great controversy, highlighting the "ugly" racism of some of the correspondents and presenters of the programs in these channels.
The Hebrew-language Channel 11 of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation "Kan", as well as the Arabic-speaking "Makan" channel, broadcast in both languages, monitoring the behavior of Israeli journalists in covering the Shirin case.
For example, the presenter of a news program on Channel 12 called "Sivan Rahaf Meir" asked a journalist from the 48 Palestinians to talk about Shirin Abu Aqleh because he knows her personally, but she added, "In the end, it must be said that the Al-Jazeera network, through its reports, is one of the enemies of Israel." Meir provided a justification for the killing of Shirin because Al Jazeera was hostile in its press coverage of Israel.
Channel 12 studio witnessed a tumultuous debate between journalist Muhammad Majadleh and MK Merav Ben Ari, head of the Knesset's security committee, who regrettably refused the killing of Shirin.
She said: No, don't you understand that?
Do you want me to say that again?"
As for the journalist Amit Segal, who is known for his racism against the Palestinians, he went further, and said frankly on the Israeli Channel 12 screen that Shirin "was a biased journalist on the most biased channel against Israel."
"This is a journalist on Al Jazeera who incites against Israel all the time... and I don't understand your kindness," said Eyal Berkowitz, a talk show host in partnership with journalist Ofira Asyaj, also on Channel 12. It is not related to goodness.” He interrupted her nervously, saying, “Certainly it is related to her. She (Shirin) was against the State of Israel, and she supported the operations” (the Palestinians against the Israelis).
Channel 12 news presenter Rina Metzliah also adopted the justification of the occupation in the police's attack on Sherine's coffin campaign. She said in an interview with MK Ahmed Tibi, "We saw people at the funeral throwing stones at the police, why?"
With her largely ignored, campaigners for the coffin were beaten with batons and kicked until the occupation police nearly dropped the coffin to the ground.
When Tibi referred to the brutal assault on the funeral, Mesliah fled to talk about another case.
Channel 12 studio also witnessed a tumultuous debate between journalist Muhammad Majadleh and Knesset member-chair of its security committee Merav Ben Ari, who refused to the point of regret over the killing of Shirin.
She said: No, don't you understand that?
Do you want me to say that again?"
On Channel 13, the Palestinian affairs correspondent in the channel, Or Heller, tried to play a very racist chord, saying, "She (Sherine) was presenting the Palestinian narrative, even though it is Christian... In fact, this is exciting... We saw today (at the funeral) all that symbolizes it."
Heller also considered that the Palestinians "celebrated" the killing of Shireen in order to achieve political gains, completely ignoring human sympathy and the magnitude of the shock and deep sadness.
Heller said, "For the Palestinians (the killing of Shirin) is an opportunity to make gains, which they have been "celebrating" for 3 days... Wednesday, Thursday and Friday...".
Just covering up and avoiding journalistic efforts to reveal the truth
With the exception of articles by some voices that are considered abnormal in Israel, such as Haaretz writers Gideon Levy, Amira Hass, and Nir Hasson, an Israeli journalist, until writing this text, has not attempted to conduct a field investigation in order to find out the truth about the shooting that killed Shirin Abu Akleh.
Although journalists such as Gal Berger (the Israel Broadcasting Corporation), Ohad Hemo (Channel 12) and Hezi Simantov (Channel 13) usually prepare reports and investigations from inside the Palestinian territories and give interviews even with Palestinian gunmen in the camps, including Jenin camp, they are at their peak In the press coverage of Shirin’s killing, it seems that they avoided preparing press investigations about the circumstances of the incident, fearing that they would find themselves confirming the unequivocal Palestinian narrative that an Israeli soldier or soldiers deliberately shot Shirin and the rest of the journalists on the site, in the face of the multiple and conflicting Israeli accounts based on skepticism about what It happened.
Hezi Simantov began his television report on Shirin's killing by saying, "This is a big dilemma that Israel found itself in this morning."
The entire report focuses on the conflicting narratives on the one hand, and on Shirin's biography in "Al Jazeera hostile to its coverage of Israel" on the other hand, and on the effort placed on Israel to persuade the world to accept the results of the army's investigation into the circumstances of Shirin's shooting, on the third hand.
As for Nir Dvory, the military affairs correspondent for Channel 12, he also did not attempt to conduct a journalistic investigation, but rather said that the Palestinians base their account on eyewitnesses, but the video of the Palestinian gunman who was shooting proves that he was the one who shot Shirin, and when the Knesset member responded to him Ahmed al-Tibi said that the gunman's video is in an area far from the site of the shooting of Shirin, Dfoury refused and said confidently, "No, this is not another place, and were you there to know that it was from another place?"
Head of Arab Affairs at Channel 12 Tzvi Yehezekili said in an interview with Israeli radio station FM103 that the one responsible for accusing Israel of killing Shirin Abu Aqleh is Al-Jazeera. In the camps, they risk themselves, and when they are injured, they always accuse Israel."
Conclusion
Most Israeli journalists work in defense of Israel, and while they pretend to be objective in covering events related to the Israeli issue, they become soldiers on the side of the government and the army when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Therefore, most of them enlisted to defend Israel in the case of Shirin Abu Aqila, first by adopting the first story in which they accuse the Palestinian gunman. After the collapse of this novel, the discourse shifted to 3 directions. The first assumes that Shireen was killed by Palestinian bullets, or “unintentionally by Israeli bullets.” During an armed clash by maintaining a state of suspicion, the second incites against Shireen and Al-Jazeera, and the third focuses on the need to mitigate the damage that the "Shirin Abu Akleh incident" caused to Israel's global image.
Perhaps the odd voices in the Israeli press are the best to express the reality of the Israeli perspective on the Palestinians.
Nir Hasson wrote in Haaretz an analytical article summarizing the circumstances of Shirin's martyrdom and the events that followed by saying, "The problem is not in the (Israeli) novel nor in the procedures...the problem is in (Israel) refusing to view the Palestinians as human beings."