Joe Biden will travel to the Middle East for the first time since taking office on Tuesday. Prior to a trip to Saudi Arabia, which will resurrect the age-old foreign policy quandary of realpolitik versus human rights, the US president will visit Israel, where he risks becoming entangled in the storm that has erupted in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May.
Biden will visit Israel from Wednesday to Friday as part of his Middle Eastern tour, and is expected to discuss with new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid the strengthening ties between Tel Aviv and certain Arab states, as well as US efforts to resurrect the nuclear deal discarded by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Regardless of his intentions, Biden’s visit risks being overshadowed by outrage over the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al-Jazeera journalist who was killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli military operation in the West Bank town of Jenin while wearing a protective helmet and a bulletproof vest bearing the word “Press.”
The controversy threatens to overshadow Biden’s visit in particular because Abu Akleh, a Palestinian icon since her tragic death, was a US citizen.
In an open letter published on July 8, Abu Akleh’s family made a direct appeal to Biden, expressing their “grief, outrage, and sense of betrayal regarding your administration’s abject response to the extrajudicial killing of our sister and aunt by Israeli forces.”
In a report issued last week, US officials concluded that a shot fired from Israeli positions most likely killed her, though there was “no reason to believe” her shooting was intentional. However, the report also stated that the bullet was “badly damaged,” preventing a “clear conclusion.”
The late journalist’s brother, Anton Abu Akleh, wrote in the letter on her behalf that the “United States has been skulking toward the erasure of any wrongdoing by Israeli forces” and that “your administration’s engagement has served to whitewash Shireen’s killing and perpetuate impunity.”
The text concludes with demands for the US Justice Department and FBI to “take action” on what the family believes was a “extrajudicial killing,” as well as for Biden to meet with her family in person to discuss the issue.
The open letter elicited a sympathetic response from pro-Palestinian activists, including Iyad el-Baghdadi, an influential pro-democracy activist of Palestinian origin, who accused the US of making an exception for Arab-Americans in terms of equality before the law.
Saudi visit squabble
Even more embarrassing for the White House, the outpouring of rage over Abu Akleh’s death highlights the Democratic Party’s schism between leftists and moderates.
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Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American progressive, issued a statement on July 8 calling for an independent US investigation into the killing, blasting the Biden administration and State Department for “admitting Shireen was likely killed by Israeli forces, but extending the benefit of the doubt to a government that has earned none.
” More than 80 members of Congress, including Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, have called for an investigation.
Tlaib concluded her statement by stating that when Biden meets with Lapid, he “must obtain the names of the soldiers responsible for killing Shireen, as well as the commanding officer, so that these individuals can be fully prosecuted for their crimes by the Department of Justice.”
This comes as Biden faces similar criticism for his visit to Saudi Arabia, a historic US partner the president once promised to make a “pariah” because of its alleged role in the October 2018 murder of exiled dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In February 2021, Biden declassified a US intelligence report concluding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “approved” the operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi, then a resident of Virginia and a Washington Post columnist.
In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Biden defended his decision, writing, “My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be during this trip, just as they will be in Israel and the West Bank.”
This article was translated from the French original.(Courtesy France 24)
