Videos of the incident at Akleh’s funeral were quickly circulated on social networks and received widespread condemnation from a number of leaders and organizations from around the world.
Police investigation of the funeral for Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh indicated that there was police misconduct at the event, N12 reported on Thursday.
Police had reportedly finished their investigation on Wednesday, examining the violence that erupted between Israeli police and participants of Akleh’s funeral.
However, at this stage, the police had not published the findings themselves and only said that Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev has been updated on the matter, according to N12. Critics have questioned the decision by police to announce the investigation’s end and transfer the main findings to Bar-Lev but not publish the findings.
“Under my guidance, police will investigate the conduct of forces on the ground.”
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai
“A complex event”
“The funeral procession of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was a complex event,” said Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, regarding the investigation. “It is impossible to remain indifferent to the hard images and we must investigate so that sensitive events such as these are not violently disturbed.”
“Under my guidance, police will investigate the conduct of forces on the ground,” he continued. “We will aim at improving the conduct of similar incidences in the future.”
The investigation
Shabtai instructed a month ago to conduct an investigation into the incident at the funeral following the many worldwide condemnations that were heard about the police’s conduct.
The investigation was conducted “with a clear understanding of the sensitivity and complexity of the incident,” said Bar-Lev, N12 reported.
Videos of the incident at Akleh’s funeral were quickly circulated on social media and received widespread condemnation from a number of leaders and organizations from around the world.
Meanwhile, two days after the clashes at the funeral, a video was apparently released from the security cameras of the French Hill hospital in Jerusalem, showing the police breaking into the hospital grounds before the journalist’s funeral.