Shireen Abu Akleh documentary to raise pressure on Biden over inquiry

Through video recordings before and during the shooting, and interviews with other journalists at the scene, the documentary dismantles the shifting Israeli official narrative that at first blamed the Palestinians for killing Abu Akleh and then falsely claimed she was caught in crossfire during a gun battle. Al Jazeera presents video evidence that at least one Israeli soldier was targeting the journalists.

When the shooting stops, a clearly distraught Hanaysha can be seen kneeling and reaching out to the fallen Al Jazeera reporter. But as she emerges from behind the tree, another round of fire forces her back.

At that point, Hanaysha did not understand how gravely Abu Akleh was wounded .

When a young man jumps over a wall to try and pull Abu Akleh out of the line of fire, he is also shot at. He abandons the attempt and instead helps Hanaysha to safety.

The video compilation and eyewitness accounts provide compelling evidence that the Israeli official account of the shooting was riddled with falsehoods. Principally it challenges the claim, which Israel continues to stand by, that Abu Akleh was killed by stray fire in the middle of a gun battle.

The video shows there was no such battle, only bursts of shooting by Israeli forces clearly aimed at the journalists and only them.

The documentary includes a reconstruction demonstrating that, with the typical sights on Israeli guns, soldiers would have clearly seen that the journalists were wearing signs identifying them as press and that they were not carrying weapons.

In addition, several of the bursts of shooting are directed at those attempting to pull Abu Akleh out of the line of fire. They are not advancing down the street and pose no discernible threat to the Israelis.

The IDF followed this up with a series of tweets, the last of which again points the finger at Palestinians.

The Israeli prime minister and Israeli foreign ministry then wrote tweets drawing on the IDF assertions to shift responsibility to the Palestinians.

The Israeli strategy had at least one success. The Biden administration broadly embraced the final IDF account of events that Abu Akleh was probably killed by an Israeli soldier but that the shooting was an accident in the middle of a gun battle.

But not everyone in Washington was persuaded. Dozens of members of Congress demanded that, given Abu Akleh was an American citizen, the US conduct an independent investigation.

Israel said it would not cooperate with the FBI because the investigation was an interference in its internal affairs, even though Jenin is not part of Israel but inside occupied territory subject to the international jurisdiction of the fourth Geneva convention.