Another piece of witness testimony that CNN uses comes from “former parliamentarian and member of the Palestinian Fatah Party in Jenin,” Jamal Huwail, who alleges Israeli forces were deliberately targeting the journalists:
 
Jamal Huwail, a professor at the Arab American University in Jenin, who helped drag Abu Akleh’s lifeless body from the road, said he believed the shots were coming from one of the Israeli vehicles, which he described as a “new model which had an opening for snipers,” because of the elevation and direction of the bullets.
 
‘They were shooting directly at the journalists,’ Huwail said.”
 
One can only imagine how credible CNN’s readers would find Huwail’s testimony if they knew he has described the terrorist who murdered four people in a vehicle ramming and knife rampage in Beersheba on March 22 as a “lone lion” who had “sounded the alarm of this criminal Zionist occupation.”

CNN proceeds to bolster its fantastical narrative with evidence from Chris Cobb, who the outlet calls an “explosive weapons expert.”
 
Using images provided by CNN, Cobb is reportedly able to ascertain that Abu Akleh was not killed by a “random shot,” but was “targeted.”
 
A quick search into Cobb’s background reveals he is far from the independent expert that CNN suggests. Rather, he is an advisor to Forensic Architecture, which has produced numerous pseudo-scientific investigations into Israel that have reached provenly biased and misleading conclusions

This inflammatory charge, which was vehemently denied by the IDF, relies heavily on claims made by Chris Cobb-Smith, who is presented by CNN as “an explosive weapons expert” and “a security consultant and British army veteran.”  
 
As seen below, for two decades, Cobb-Smith has joined with the most politicized anti-Israel NGOs in pushing false or unsubstantiated accusations of  Israeli violations of the laws of war. For instance, Cobb-Smith advised Human Rights Watch in 2002 regarding Jenin, when the NGO ran campaigns alleging that Israel “committed war crimes.” During the 2009 Gaza conflict, Cobb-Smith worked for Amnesty International in a similar role. In particular, he circulated false claims (“there was no tactical reason; there was no reasonable use of that weapon system”) as well as claims (later discredited) that the IDF used white phosphorous “in an illegal manner.” Similarly, he has been involved with the campaigns of the anti-Israel NGO known as Forensic Architecture.

« Toutes les informations que nous avons recueillies – y compris de l’armée israélienne et du procureur général palestinien – corroborent le fait que les tirs qui ont tué Mme Abu Akleh et blessé son collègue Ali Sammoudi provenaient des forces de sécurité israéliennes et non de tirs indiscriminés de Palestiniens armés, comme l’affirmaient initialement les autorités israéliennes », a déclaré Mme Shamdasani, lors d’un point de presse à Genève.
 
« Nous n’avons trouvé aucune information suggérant qu’il y ait eu une quelconque activité de Palestiniens armés à proximité des journalistes », a-t-elle insisté, estimant qu’il était « profondément troublant que les autorités israéliennes n’aient pas ouvert d’enquête judiciaire ».

although ballistic analysis was unable to establish conclusively whether the shot came from an Israeli gun or a Palestinian one.
 
“Ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement after American officials were allowed to oversee an examination of the shell, which had been withheld by the Palestinian Authority until Saturday.

The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh: Tracing a Bullet to an Israeli Convoy
 
A New York Times investigation found that the bullet that killed a Palestinian-American journalist was fired from the approximate position of an Israeli military vehicle.

The evidence reviewed by The Times showed that there were no armed Palestinians near her when she was shot. It contradicted Israeli claims that, if a soldier had mistakenly killed her, it was because he had been shooting at a Palestinian gunman.
 
The Times investigation also showed that 16 shots were fired from the location of the Israeli convoy, as opposed to Israeli claims that the soldier had fired five bullets in the journalists’ direction. The Times found no evidence that the person who fired recognized Ms. Abu Akleh and targeted her personally. The Times was unable to determine whether the shooter saw that she and her colleagues were wearing protective vests emblazoned with the word Press.

The US probe into Abu Akleh’s disputed killing was led by United States Security Coordinator Gen. Michael Penzel, who oversees security ties between Israel and the Palestinians. Penzel’s office was granted full access to both Israeli and Palestinian investigations into Abu Akleh’s death, Price said.
 
“The USSC concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh. The USSC found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances,” Price said.

After an extremely detailed forensic analysis, independent, third-party examiners, as part of a process overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet that killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion.
 
In addition to the forensic and ballistic analysis, the USSC was granted full access to both Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations over the last several weeks. By summarizing both investigations, the USSC concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh.  The USSC found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.

An interim IDF probe narrowed down the circumstances of her death to two possible instances, a case of indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire and one of possibly errant Israeli sniper fire. In the first instance, the IDF theorized that she may have been killed when Palestinian gunmen indiscriminately fired dozens of bullets at IDF vehicles in the direction where she was standing. In the second scenario, a soldier inside an armored vehicle positioned about 200 meters from Abu Akleh armed with a gun equipped with a telescopic sight who had been firing through a slit in the vehicle during an exchange of fire with a Palestinian gunman was thought to have possibly hit her.

US has clinched deal with Saudis for normalization steps toward Israel — official
 
US President Joe Biden, during his visit to Jeddah this weekend, will announce the successful brokering of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Egypt that will see Riyadh take steps toward normalization with Israel, a Middle East diplomat confirmed to The Times of Israel Thursday.
 
The normalization measures will include Saudi Arabia opening its airspace to Israeli flights to the Far East in addition to rolling out direct flights between Israel and Saudi Arabia for Muslim pilgrims, the Middle East diplomat said, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.
 
(...)

Israël mène une nouvelle agression sanglante contre le peuple palestinien, contre la bande de Gaza occupée et sa population de deux millions d'assiégés depuis plus de 15 ans. Malheureusement ce scénario se répète à chaque fois qu'il y a des élections israéliennes.

"C'est toujours en faisant couler le sang palestinien qu'on croit gagner des élections, qu'on croit faire plaisir et gagner la sympathie des colons extrémistes israéliens".

C'est le scénario répétitif, chaque année. L'an dernier, l'agression de la bande de Gaza était une tentative de Benjamin Netanyahou de gagner les élections. Son successeur, Yaïr Lapid, fait la même chose cette année pour gagner des élections contre lui. En 24 heures déjà, Israël a assassiné 13 Palestiniens y compris une gamine de 5 ans, une grand-mère de 75 ans, une jeune artiste de 23 ans, 114 Palestiniens ont été blessés et deux millions d'habitants sont terrorisés. On manque de toute protection internationale.

Quelle est la logique de justifier une agression contre le peuple palestinien par l'immobilisme d'une réaction de la part du Jihad islamique ? Israël a arrêté un leader du Jihad islamique, a attendu une réaction de la part de l'organisation et, faute d'une réaction, a décidé de frapper la bande de Gaza et de tuer les civils palestiniens. Quelle est cette logique de justification de l'assassinat d'un peuple ? De l'assassinat d'enfants ? Les pourparlers entre le Jihad islamique et Israël étaient en cours d'organisation, via le médiateur égyptien, mais Israël a anticipé les résultats de ces négociations et a décidé seul de frapper la bande de Gaza en cherchant une réaction du Jihad islamique.