opinion
Worldwide Condemnation of Israel
Doesn’t Help the Search for Truth
BY FIMMA NIRENSTEIN
he tragic death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen
Abu Akleh, who was killed last week in a firefight
in the Palestinian town of Jenin, has prompted
worldwide demonization of Israel that does not help
the search for the truth of how Akleh died.

We have seen worldwide condemnation — or
rather criminalization — of Israelis and Israeli leaders
by nearly all media outlets, who have uncritically
accepted the narrative of Israeli guilt and criminal-
ity proffered by the Palestinians. Yet regarding the
Palestinian Authority’s refusal to conduct a joint
investigation into the incident, to the point of refus-
ing to produce the very bullet that killed Akleh, there
has been worldwide silence.

This reflexive and all-too-common criminalization
of Israel creates a false and defamatory narrative
of Jewish violence and cruelty. This is nothing less
than the promotion by international public opinion
of the Palestinians’ campaign to resurrect their
“cause” after a period of near-oblivion. To further
this campaign, the PA will never consent to an
objective examination of the evidence relating to
Akleh’s death — likely for fear of what it might find.

Indeed, the Palestinians have already got what
they wanted: clashes and violence in the streets
of Jerusalem, which have been flooded with
Palestinian flags. The Israeli reaction to the clashes
during Akleh’s funeral in Jerusalem, moreover,
proves the intellectual Douglas Murray’s thesis in
his latest book that the West is its own worst enemy.

Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Barlev has
set up a committee to investigate the conduct of
Israel’s own police at the funeral, even though the
Palestinians clearly intended to exploit the event in
order to spark a demonstration or riot, which the
police attempted to prevent even while defamatory
slogans were shouted and stones thrown at them.

Media coverage of this shocking behavior was
carefully censored. The brother of Akleh, for
example, told those attempting to steal Akleh’s
casket, “For God’s sake, let us put her in the
car and finish the day.” It is not surprising that
the global press refused to report this, choosing
instead to portray the police response as either
unprovoked or inspired by depraved cruelty.

The BBC, CNN and all other media outlets with
reporters at the scene painted the Israel Police in
precisely the same defamatory light.

This capitulation to Palestinian violence and pro-
paganda was not limited to the media. U.S. President
Joe Biden’s Spokeswoman Jen Psaki called the
images of Akleh’s funeral “very disturbing,” while
12 MAY 19, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
the European Union said it was “deeply shocked.”
No one asked how the events actually unfolded,
choosing instead to criminalize and demonize the
Israel Police. Nor was there any interest in the day-
to-day difficulties and hazards faced by the police,
who are charged with the immensely difficult task
of preventing terror attacks and violent clashes
in a country that is permanently at war. Yet even
their leaders have abandoned them. The police
said they were merely trying to ensure an orderly
funeral. Barlev, however, appeared — along with
Israel’s enemies — to suspect otherwise, even
though this is his own police force.

The obvious assumption in such a case, and in
such a context, is that the police did not find them-
selves facing a funeral, but a Palestinian demon-
stration that threatened to become a riot. They had
to confront a mob of people chanting slogans of
hatred and revenge. The mob threw stones at them
— and stones can kill. The police were in an explo-
sive tactical and political situation in which, during
Ramadan and after, Israel has been plagued by
multiple terror attacks and violence on the Temple
Mount. They reacted in a manner that, whatever an
investigation may conclude, was understandable.

That an Israeli minister has forsaken his own
police at a moment of violent and disproportionate
international condemnation represents something
dark and unusual. Certainly, Israel is a democratic
state that is accountable for its behavior. It is logical
for it to publicly provide a response to such a wave
of condemnation. And this took place. Nonetheless,
such an investigation takes resources away from
the Israel Police at a difficult moment, after three
weeks in which 19 Israeli civilians were murdered in
terror attacks. They were killed in the name of the
same flag that covered the streets of Jerusalem at
Akleh’s funeral. It is not even necessary to ask what
would happen if an Israeli citizen carried an Israeli
flag through Ramallah — they would not last long.

It is perfectly legitimate for the US, EU and indeed
Israel to call for a thorough investigation into the
death of Akleh and the violence at her funeral.

But such an investigation cannot be objective
if the a priori delegitimization and demonization
of the Israel Police and Israeli security forces in
general continues. If it does, then any investi-
gation will simply be another attempt to further
the Palestinian leadership’s strategy of uprooting
Israeli sovereignty and legitimacy in the interna-
tional community. JE
Journalist Fiamma Nirenstein was a member
of the Italian Parliament (2008-13), where she
served as vice president of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs in the Chamber of Deputies. She
served in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and
established and chaired the Committee for the
Inquiry Into Anti-Semitism. She is a fellow at the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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