In a statement to the Israeli parliament, and later on Twitter, Lapid said the Israeli army is “a moral army… that thoroughly investigates any event and upholds the values and laws of democracy.”
The outgoing Prime Minister emphasized, “Israel Defense Forces soldiers will not be subject to investigation by the FBI or by any foreign country or entity, no matter how friendly. We will not leave our soldiers to foreign investigators, we have conveyed our strong protest to the Americans at the appropriate levels.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the FBI investigation, saying that it “believes that this decision, even if it came late, reflects the condemnation of the American side in the absence of any serious Israeli investigations, and considers it merely an attempt to cover up criminals and murderers.”
A CNN investigation published two weeks after Abu Aqleh’s death indicated that the fatal shot most likely came from a location where Israeli forces were known to have been, and the firing pattern indicated that the bullets were directed rather than random.
Other journalistic investigations came to similar conclusions.
The Israeli army admitted in September that there was a “high possibility” that one of its soldiers had shot the journalist, but said it was impossible to confirm. The IDF Advocate General said it would not press charges against any soldier and that “there is no doubt that a shot was deliberately fired at any person identified as a civilian and in particular at any person identified as a journalist”.
The US Justice Department and State Department declined to comment on Monday about the US investigation, but the State Department said: “Our thoughts remain with the Abu Aqleh family… Sherine was not only an American citizen, but a courageous reporter whose journalism and pursuit of the truth earned her the respect of audiences around the world.” “.
The US State Department-led forensic examination of the bullet that killed Abu Aqleh in July was inconclusive, but found that it was most likely killed by unintentional Israeli fire.
Abu-Aqleh’s family has long called for the FBI to investigate her death — something the department does regularly with Americans killed abroad.
Her family said in a statement that they were “encouraged” by the news of the US investigation.
“We hope that the US will use all investigative tools at its disposal to obtain answers about Shireen’s killing and hold those responsible for these atrocities accountable. We call on all parties that have any evidence to respond to investigation requests from the US and not stand in the way of justice,” the Abu Aqleh family said.
