On May 11, 2022, Israeli forces killed Shireen while she and her colleagues were reporting for Al Jazeera on the Israeli military’s incursion into the Palestinian city of Jenin. Several extensive investigations conducted by news media and human rights institutions overwhelmingly found that Shireen and her colleagues were directly targeted by Israeli forces, yet her family has not received any measure of justice to this day.
Shortly after Shireen’s killing, the Center for Constitutional Rights worked with her family to engage U.S. officials and lawmakers. In July 2022, we urgently demanded that President Biden meet with the family in Jerusalem, and then, when that request was rebuffed, we brought Shireen’s brother Anton Abu Akleh and his two adult children to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress and force a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
While the FBI reportedly opened a criminal investigation into her killing in November 2022, it is not clear that any progress has been made, and Israeli officials have refused to cooperate with the investigation.
We continue to support the Abu Akleh family’s efforts and recognize that the United States shields Israel from accountability, which only emboldens Israeli forces to act with impunity as they escalate atrocity crimes throughout the region.
Rep. André Carson reintroduced the Justice for Shireen Act in the 119th Congress, which requires the identification of the individuals and entities that carried out, participated in, or were otherwise complicit in or responsible for the death of Shireen; and identification of any United States defense materials, funds, or services that were implicated in her death.
Please contact your representative now and encourage them to back this important step in increasing support in Congress for justice and accountability for Shireen’s family.
Thank you for all that you do,
