Interview
CBS News: What can you tell us about this investigation?
Noura: Thank you for having me. There are a few things I want to emphasize. First, I want to emphasize that Shireen was not just a journalist. To several generations of Palestinians, especially those living in the diaspora, Shireen introduced us to Palestine through her reporting. She guided us through the ongoing struggle for freedom. Second, I want to emphasize a message that Palestinians have said for seventy-four years: the Israeli forces that murdered Shireen should not have been there, on that land, in the first place. Third, I want to emphasize Shireen’s murder has caused an uproar because it is very clear to those watching that she was killed by a shot of precision. She was shot just under her helmet, straight into her head. This shot fits the pattern and practice of Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinians. Shireen is not the first Palestinian journalist—and certainly not the first Palestinian—to be targeted in this fashion. To answer your question: There is no ongoing investigation to tell you about.
CBS News: Is it your assertion that the Israeli Defense Forces specifically targeted Shireen?
Noura: Yes, this is what we have gathered from eye-witnesses in Jenin, and this is what we have gathered from the human rights organization B'Tselem, which has provided the coordinates of where Palestinians were located during the attack and where Israeli fire came from. On top of this corroborating evidence, Shireen’s murder fits the pattern and practice of the Israelis. This is why there must be an international, impartial investigation, not an Israeli-led investigation.
The Israeli officials’ call for an investigation should be understood as an attempt to whitewash Israel’s crimes. It is more of a PR campaign than an impartial investigation into the life and murder of Shireen Abu Akleh.
For example, Israel launched an “investigation” into the Great March of Return in the Gaza Strip, during which over two-hundred Palestinians were killed. Ninety percent of them were shot in the torso, neck, and even in the back. B’Tselem found that this investigation did not yield any outcomes. Similar data has shown that over eighty percent of Israeli police investigations in the West Bank lead to failures. The murder of my cousin at a checkpoint is a case in point. Two years ago, he was shot and killed at a checkpoint separating two Palestinian cities. To this day, Israeli authorities are holding his body in a freezer at Tel Aviv University. Israel has refused to investigate his case or allow anyone else to look into it. Independent organizations, however, have shown that my cousin was shot in cold blood.
We do not trust an Israeli-led investigation into Shireen’s murder. We do not trust the judge, jury, or executioner. An Israeli-led investigation would fail by any liberal due process standards, and it should be rejected outright. Everyone should demand an international, impartial investigation. Most importantly, everyone should demand an end to this occupation, an end to Israeli impunity, and unequivocal support for Palestinian freedom.
CBS News: From your perspective, you do not believe Israel can conduct a fair investigation into this matter, nor the multiple other shootings that you just outlined. Who do you think should be conducting an investigation, and are you calling on any international authorities to do so?
Noura: Let me be really clear. This is not merely my perspective. There is empirical data from Israeli, Palestinian, and international organizations alike that demonstrates that Israel cannot investigate itself.
Four hundred Palestinians have been killed since 2020. How many of these murders have been investigated? We are not simply calling for an international investigation into Shireen’s murder. There must be action taken against the killing of Palestinians at large.
There are multiple reports from international organizations declaring that Israel is currently overseeing a regime of apartheid over Palestinian lives. These reports have shown that the settler-colonial condition of Israel necessitates the removal of Palestinians.
I’m a legal scholar that studies the laws of war. Israel has manipulated the laws of war to its benefit so that they can claim they are law-abiding. For example, Israel has shrunk the category of who can be considered a Palestinian “civilian” so that they can kill more and more Palestinians and claim that it is “legal” within the language of the law.
What Palestinians need is international intervention. We need the same kind of solidarity and intervention that ended apartheid in South Africa: boycotts, divestments, and sanctions. Palestinians need this from all diplomatic capitals of the world. We need this from UN agencies and international human rights organizations, and we need this from people like you. To everyone out there watching this story: you can participate and help overcome the diplomatic intransigence that continues to hold Palestinians in a position of unfreedom and oppression.
Word for Word Transcription
Noura: I want to emphasize that Shireen is not only a journalist, but she also introduced so many generations of us into Palestine, especially those that have lived in the diaspora, through the many years of Palestinian ongoing struggle for freedom. We should emphasize that the Israeli forces that shot Shireen shouldn’t be there. They should not be on this land at all, which Palestinians have been saying for 74 years. We should also emphasize that the uproar over Shireen and over Shireen’s death is because it is very clear to those of us watching that this was a shot of precision under her helmet and into her head and one that fits the pattern and practice of Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinians. Shireen is certainly not the first Palestinian journalist to be targeted by Israel, and there is no ongoing investigation to tell you about because Israel does not have an investigation.
CBS News: So, professor, is your assertion that the Israel Defense Forces specifically targeted Shireen?
Noura: That is what we have gathered so far from eye-witnesses, and this is what we have gathered from Bet Selem’s coordinates of where Palestinians were and where fire was coming from. Moreover, it fits into this pattern and practice. Even if we can’t determine it with certainty. This is what necessitates an international, impartial investigation. What Israel is doing right now—asking for an investigation—should be understood as an attempt to further white wash its crimes. It is a PR campaign. It is not an impartial investigation into the life and death, the life and murder, I should say, of Shireen. Bet Selem has also found that Israel’s investigation of itself in the Great March of Return in the Gaza Strip—in which over 200 Palestinians were killed, 90% of whom were shot in the torso, neck, and back—did not yield any outcomes. We have similar data that tells us that 81% of police investigations in the West Bank have led to failure. We have the case of my cousin, who was shot and killed at a checkpoint separating two Palestinian cities, whose body is still held in a freezer at Tel Aviv University for the past two years, where Israel has refused to investigate or allow anyone else to investigate. What we have from independent organizations shows that he was shot in cold blood. So we do not trust an Israel investigation. We do not trust the judge, jury, and executioner. It would fail by any liberal due process standards, and it should be rejected outright. Everyone should demand an international, impartial investigation. And, most importantly, an end to this occupation, an end to Israeli impunity, and unequivocal support for Palestinian freedom.
CBS News: Obviously from your perspective, you do not believe Israel can conduct a fair investigation into this matter, nor the multiple other shootings that you just outlined. Who do you think should be conducting an investigation, and are you calling on any international authorities to do so?
Noura: Let me be really clear. This is not merely my perspective. This is empirical data that has demonstrated that Israel cannot investigate itself. Israeli organizations, international organizations, Palestinian organizations have demonstrated that Israel is unable and unwilling to investigate itself. We have, I think the number now is, 400 Palestinians who have been killed since 2020. How many of them have been investigated? This is not just a call for an international investigation—which I think there are a number of impartial organizations that can lead this. But, it should not stop at merely the investigation of Shireen’s murder. It should be an investigation…and we have multiple reports that have told us that Israel is overseeing a regime of apartheid over Palestinian lives, that this is a settler-colonial condition that necessitates the removal of Palestinians, that the killing of Palestinians—I’m a legal scholar that studies the laws of war. Even Israel is changing the laws of war. They have shrunk the category of who counts as a Palestinian civilian, so that they can kill more and more Palestinians and say that it was “legal” within the language of law. So, they are manipulating the law, even while they tell us that they are abiding by the law. What Palestinians need is international intervention. This same kind of solidarity and invention, the boycotts, the divestments, the sanctions that ended apartheid in South Africa. Palestinians need that by all diplomatic capitals as well as UN agencies and international human rights organizations. As well as people like you. Everyone that’s watching can participate to overcome the diplomatic intransigence that continues to hold Palestinians in this position of unfreedom and oppression.
[This interview was transcribed by Cat Haseman.]