The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a New York Times exposé of the Biden administration’s cover-up of the 2022 murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
Retired Colonel Steve Gabavics, who investigated Abu Akleh’s murder, told The New York Times that he and his team concluded that an Israeli sniper was aware she was a journalist when he shot her, findings that Lt. Gen. Michael R. Fenzel allegedly disregarded and that the Biden administration’s public statement covered up.
SEE: U.S. Assessment of Israeli Shooting of Journalist Divided American Officials – New York Times
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“We commend retired Colonel Steve Gabavics for bravely coming forward and confirming what was obvious to everyone: an Israeli sniper deliberately murdered an American journalist and the Biden administration covered it up.
“We call on President Trump to investigate Lt. Gen. Michael R. Fenzel and any other officials who were allegedly involved in the cover-up of Shireen Abu Akleh’s assassination. We also call on the President to order the State Department and the FBI to pursue a real investigation into her murder and pursue criminal charges against the Israeli snipers responsible for killing her.
“We also reiterate our condemnation of President Biden, Brett McGurk, Jake Sullivan and every other administration official who spent four years enabling the Israeli government’s abuses. These individuals must never again serve our government and should be fired from the prestigious roles they have secured in academia since leaving office.”
According to The New York Times:
“Colonel Gabavics said he and others on the team agreed that the Israeli soldier who shot Ms. Abu Akleh must have known that he was shooting at a journalist, though they did not believe that the shooter was targeting Ms. Abu Akleh specifically.
Colonel Gabavics said he concluded the shooting was deliberate based on several factors:
- Records of Israeli military radio traffic on the morning before the shooting showed that soldiers were aware of journalists in the area, he said. And there had been no gunfire coming from the journalists’ direction that might make the Israeli soldiers likely to shoot toward them in self-defense, he said.
- There was an Israeli military vehicle down the road from Ms. Abu Akleh that morning. A sniper watching the road from inside the vehicle would have been able to see the journalists clearly, Colonel Gabavics said.
- When he visited the scene of the shooting hours after it occurred, he said, his colleagues, wearing blue vests similar to Ms. Abu Akleh’s navy-blue protective vest marked ‘Press,’ positioned themselves where she had fallen. They were visible to him from where the shooter’s vehicle had been, he said.
”Colonel Gabavics said that the precision of the shots, hitting Ms. Abu Akleh’s head and a carob tree near her, did not suggest an uncontrolled spray of gunfire. That, together with the fact that the shooter fired first at Ms. Abu Akleh’s producer, then at her, then at a passerby who tried to help, indicated to him the shooting was deliberate, he said.”
Earlier this year, CAIR welcomed a letter sent by eight U.S. Senators to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding transparency and accountability for Abu Akleh’s killing.
In a September 6, 2024 letter, CAIR formally urged then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate and prosecute Israeli officials, soldiers, and settlers responsible for the killings of Shireen Abu Akleh, peace activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 80-year-old Omar Assad, Rachel Corrie, and others.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com