Updated May 9, 2025 at 6:02 AM EDT
A new documentary from the media outlet Zeteo challenges the U.S. government's official position that the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank in May 2022 was a tragic mistake. The film, Who Killed Shireen?, also claims to reveal the name of the Israeli soldier who killed her and alleges the Biden administration intentionally softened its internal findings to protect a key ally.
Abu Akleh, a veteran reporter for Al Jazeera, was wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked "press" when she was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier while covering an Israeli military operation in the city of Jenin, in the West Bank. No one has been held accountable. At the time, Israel's military said in a statement that it was a "high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire in which life-threatening, widespread and indiscriminate shots were fired toward IDF soldiers."
In the documentary, a former Biden administration official, whose voice is distorted to protect his identity, says a U.S. review initially concluded Abu Akleh's killing was intentional and that the soldier who fired the fatal shot would have been aware he was shooting at a journalist. NPR's Daniel Estrin spoke with the same former official who made the same claims. Investigative filmmaker and former Wall Street Journal correspondent Dion Nissenbaum was one of the executive producers of the film. He spoke to Morning Edition host Leila Fadel.
On what the documentary reported about the Biden administration's review:
"We were able to find a key U.S. official to talk to us who told us that U.S. personnel went to the scene in the West Bank city of Jenin, where Shireen was killed to try and figure out what happened. And their initial assessment was that the Israeli soldier intentionally targeted Shireen."
"That initial assessment was essentially overruled by the Biden administration, and they came out and said explicitly that it was unintentional."
On the soldier the documentary identifies as the shooter — and their confirmation process:
While the documentary names the soldier, NPR is not doing so because we have not independently confirmed his identity.
"He was a 20-year-old soldier who was on his first combat deployment in the West Bank. And we were able to track him down. And he actually was himself killed in Jenin last summer. So he was killed in the city where he killed Shireen."
"We confirmed it with Israeli soldiers that knew him and served with him. And we have spoken with the Israeli military about this at length. The Israeli military, you know, is declining to comment on this. I can tell you with high confidence, we have identified the shooter."
On the significance of Abu Akleh's killing and how Israel and the occupied territories have become increasingly dangerous places for journalists to work:
(The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has named upwards of 176 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the Israel-Gaza war began. CPJ says at least 17 of those journalists and two media workers were directly targeted by Israeli forces. CPJ is classifying them as murders.)
"Her killing was in some ways the beginning of a trajectory for the Israeli military. Before Shireen, Israel was never on the list of most dangerous countries for journalists. And now, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel is considered the most dangerous country for journalists because of what's happening in Gaza. And two more Gaza journalists were killed in new strikes in Gaza. And so you just see a real shift in the way the Israeli military looks at journalists and it's becoming ever more dangerous for journalists to work there."
The Israeli military denies it deliberately targeted journalists and claims some of the journalists documented by CPJ were Hamas operatives.
In response to NPR's query about the documentary's claims, the Israeli military sent this statement:
"Zeteo has decided to publish the name of the IDF soldier who fell during an operational activity, despite the family's request not to publish the name, and even though they were told that there is no definitive determination regarding the identity of the individual responsible for the shooting that caused the journalist's death."
On whether U.S. policy may have led to more killings of Americans:
"As we note in the documentary, there are folks like Senator Chris Van Hollen who do believe that the Biden administration's failure to hold Israel to account and get them to change the way they operate did lead to the death of other Americans in the West Bank. The U.S. should have held Israel to account and gotten them to change their rules of engagement, to tighten up how they operate so that they're not opening fire on unarmed civilians."
On what Nissenbaum hopes the film accomplishes:
"I'm hoping that it will lead to some reflections from the Israeli military about the way that they operate in the West Bank around civilians and journalists. I'm hoping that the U.S. government will reflect on its own responsibility and trying to seek some justice for an American citizen who was killed by the Israeli military. I hope there's some reflection from U.S. officials about ways that they can stand up for Americans in that situation."
This story was produced for radio by Milton Guevara.
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