Breaking: Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh killed by Israeli forces in Jenin

That's criminal. Absolutely horrible.

 

Despicable

 

Horrifc.

 

I detect bias.

Need more facts.

https://m.jpost.com/israel-news/article-706398/amp

 

Detects bias: posts Jerusalem Post opinion piece.

What's your next source? The Zion Herald?

 

That's a pretty clear international war crime in my book. The last thing we need to be doing is sanctioning more countries given the supply issues, but there should be an international response to this in some way unless the Israelis punish those who committed these crimes harshly.

 

No, CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/11/middleeast/al-jazeera-journalist-killed-intl-hnk

 

So other journalists in the area claim that there weren't Palestinian gunmen there firing. The bullet that killed her was from the Israelis. Not surprising that the Israelis would try and deny it was them. I hope the full truth is discovered and released.

An American citizen who was working as a journalist has been murdered/assassinated.

 

Like with most things, better to reserve comment for after things are more thoroughly developed.

Sad to see someone lose their life.

 

This seems to discredit some more of the story by the IDF.

 

.

 

Al Jazeera needs to send blue eyed correspondents. I hear there's an influx of them needing work and shelter.

 

Very unclear at this point who did it. Israel suggested a joint autopsy and examination to the Palestinian authorities, but they refused.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/lik...zeera-reporter-in-west-bank-israel-pm-2965344

"Likely" Palestinian Gunfire Killed Al Jazeera Reporter In West Bank, Says Israel PM
Israel PM said that armed Palestinians indiscriminately fired which likely killed the veteran Al Jazeera reporter.

 

I wouldn't trust the results of an IDF investigation any more than I'd trust the US military to properly investigate when they kill civilians in war zones. I'm reminded of the debacle in Afghanistan last year when the US killed several civilians in a strike, mislead on what happened, and it took an investigation from the NYT and local reporting to uncover it.

IDF might have the technological capacity to investigate what actually happened accurately and rapidly (see article below). But is the political incentive there?

Death of journalist raises questions about IDF use of hi-tech - analysis - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

...

Hours after the incident many pro-Israel voices were relying on a video of Palestinians shooting into an alley as evidence that their chaotic shooting was responsible.

Others have geo-located the site of the chaotic shooting and the area where the journalist was killed and say they are two different places.

B’Tselem said in the afternoon that “this morning, B’Tselem’s field researcher in Jenin documented the exact locations in which the Palestinian gunman depicted in a video distributed by the Israeli army, fired, as well as the exact location in which journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed.”

The lack of information from authorities is astounding, considering the fact that the IDF has said for years that it is pushing more technology to front line units. This is not just a question of using more drones and unmanned aerial systems that may have video of the incident. Drones have been around for decades. There is also a plethora of other technology linked to the digitization of the IDF, part of the wider Momentum multi-year plan.

All of this tech is supposed to mean that soldiers at the front not only have access to more real-time data and intelligence, but that systems help units avoid casualties both among themselves and civilians.

The assertion is that the use of big data and AI and all this information makes the soldiers more lethal but also means that units can chose the precise correct weapons to deal with the target.

That means this isn’t just about making war more precise. It’s also about harnessing to conflicts all the technology we have at our fingertips in things like smart phones.

This means that soldiers may have more augmented reality – rifles that collect information, automatic target recognition systems and tracking that can help pinpoint threats.

While we don’t know how all this new technology is actually used, or how widespread it is used in every infantry and combat unit, the claims over the years have been that this technology is being pushed out to units in the field

Combined arms operations, multi-dimensional units, the “ghost unit” and a plethora of other systems that are supposed to aid operations in the field, such as unmanned ground vehicles and small tactical drones, are all part of the Israeli way of war today.

Israel isn’t doing this in a vacuum. Armies all over the world are becoming more digitized. Israel’s large defense companies and smaller start-ups often offer technology abroad or partner with companies and defense industries abroad to offer systems that are operationally proven in Israel.

One of the myths of the use of new technology, going back to the Gulf War and the “revolution in military affairs” is that technology can make war more “clean” by reducing casualties to near-zero.

Indeed, the US war on terror was an attempt to show that using things like drones meant war could be waged far from home and enemies could be neutralized using intelligence.

However, even when the US was leaving Afghanistan last year, Washington conducted a drone strike that killed 10 civilians. That means that despite intelligence and technology, civilians will still be killed.

However, a wider question about Israel’s use of intelligence and technology is whether the technology is being pushed to the front and whether that technology is actually working and whether it can be brought into the investigation and bring correct information to the public.

It is natural that Israel wants to keep secret some of the details of how it gathers information and its videos during an operation. However, that doesn’t mean that some of this information can’t help to set the record straight on this tragedy.

Why is it that foreign media and NGOs might know more than the authorities? Israel knows that it faces an uphill struggle in the information conflict, but needs to pushback against false information or disinformation. So why after all the years invested in “public diplomacy” is it that the IDF is still so slow?

Even if Israel is in the wrong and Israeli troops killed a journalist that doesn’t mean that releasing details and admitting to faults isn’t worthwhile.

If Israel is in the right and it has information it is better to release some of the details, even if it can’t release all the details jeopardizing the operational security of these operations.

It’s clear that future warfare provides operators and officers with many new tools for precise targeting that will reduce collateral damage; the question is whether it can also help to provide answers in critical incidents like the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh.

Ostensibly all this hi-tech should be reducing casualties and also providing answers when things go wrong. If it isn’t performing these basic functions, it may raise questions about whether the battlefield of the future has truly arrived.​

 

Why would the IDF release video from a different location and claim it was from the area where the American journalist was killed?

That casts a huge doubt on the idea that they're telling the truth.

 

You should be an expert at detecting bias, since you live in it.

 

@AroundTheWorld?

 

So y'all would trust the Palestinians more than the Israelis.

OK.

I think it is fair to say we don't know right now.

 

I think we trust the other journalists that were witnesses more than the IDF. Especially since the IDF appears to have been lying about at least part of their story. We know that much so far.

One of the witnesses was another journalist that was shot in the back. I guess it's possible that he would lie to cover up for the people that shot him and killed the American journalist he was working with, but it seems unlikely.

Are you more inclined to believe the side that posted video from another location claiming that it showed it wasn't them and also believe a wounded journalist would lie to cover up those that shot him in the back and killed his co-worker?

I believe it is accurate to say we can't be 100% sure at this point. But the evidence we have so far seems to be against what the IDF is claiming.