Just a week ago, the Bidenites were lecturing the IDF on the need to review its policies on the use of live fire in light of the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11. They have now backed off that message, and insist that they have no intention of telling Israel how it should conduct its operations. This change came after a stinging rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who declared that no one had a right to tell Israel how to defend itself. The story of the American reversal is here: “US: We don’t hold Israel criminally accountable for Abu Akleh’s death,” by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, September 15, 2022:
The Biden administration does not hold the IDF to be criminally accountable for the shooting death of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, US State Department spokesman Ned Price clarified during a briefing with reporters in Washington.
“We’ve always been very clear that we’re not looking for criminal accountability,” Price said on Tuesday. [Sept. 13]
There has been no change here — the US has never held the IDF to be “criminally accountable” for the killing of Abu Akleh. It said from the start that it accepted Israel’s claim that if, as now seems likely, an IDF soldier had fired the fatal shot, it was not an intentional killing, but a “tragic result” of crossfire. But the Bidenites had suggested in early September that Israel needed to review its policies and procedures to make sure such a mistake could not happen again. It was this that was met with an angry response from Prime Minister Lapid. Now the Bidenites have publicly backtracked, and agreed with Lapid.
The Biden admiration has accepted the conclusions of both the IDF investigation and its own examination conducted by the US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) that her death, likely at the hands of an IDF soldier, was “not an intentional, targeted killing.“
“No one knows the IDF’s processes and procedures better than the IDF. And so it is not on us or any other country or entity to say precisely what the IDF or any military or security organization around the world should do.”
“It is important that countries around the world, including Israel, do everything they can to protect civilian life. And of course, reporters, and journalists are civilians; they should never be targeted,” said Price.
The Israeli report similar to the USSC report found no indication of intentionality,” he continued. It was the US conclusion, he explained, that Abu Akleh’s death “was the tragic result of a gunfight in the context of an Israeli raid in the West Bank.”
Abu Akleh’s family has called without success for the US to allow for an FBI investigation into Shireen’s death, as is done in situations where an American citizen is killed under questionable circumstances, noting that to date no formal US criminal probe has been conducted….
It is the position of the U.S. government that there are no “questionable circumstances” that require further investigation. The government of Israel has itself made public its belief, based on its own investigation, that an IDF soldier was responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh. The American and Israeli governments agree that her death was not intentional, but the “tragic result of a gunfight” sparked by an Israeli raid in Jenin. The family’s call for the FBI to investigate is merely an attempt to keep the story alive, in order to exploit its propaganda value in persuading some people – without the slightest evidence — that the IDF intentionally murdered Abu Akleh.
Price said that the US had attempted to walk a fine line between ensuring civilian safety and telling the IDF what to do in military operations.
“We haven’t been prescriptive. No one knows the IDF’s processes and procedures better than the IDF. And so it is not on us or any other country or entity to say precisely what the IDF or any military or security organization around the world should do,” Price said.
“It is undeniably true that Israel faces a profound threat. It is a threat that emanates not only from Hamas in Gaza, but it is a threat that emanates from terrorist groups but also lone actors, including lone actors who have recently committed horrific acts of terrorism and violence, actors who emanated from the West Bank. So there is no denying the security threat that Israel faces,” Price added.
What Price’s statement means is that the Bidenites have every confidence that Israel can lessen the likelihood of such mistakes being repeated, but more important is what he did not say. He did not repeat the earlier insistence that Israel revise its rules of engagement. In fact, he was quite clear that the U.S. was no longer being “prescriptive.” It was not going to tell the IDF how to conduct its military operations. This was the most important part of his statement: “No one knows the IDF’s processes and procedures better than the IDF.” And so it is not on us or any other country or entity to say precisely what the IDF…should do.” He ended by directing attention to the “profound threat” that Israel faces both from terrorist groups and from lone actors, “who have recently committed horrific acts of terrorism and violence.
The Bidenites have now clearly restated that they accept Israel’s insistence that the killing of Abu Akleh was “unintentional,” And more importantly, with Ned Price’s statement on Sept. 13, the State Department has backed off from its earlier remarks.
What more could the Israelis want?
