An image of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is placed on a chair, at a Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Joe Biden news conference, in Bethlehem on July 15, 2022. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
BETHLEHEM: President Joe Biden says the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was an "enormous loss to the essential work of sharing with the world the story of the Palestinian people.”
Speaking in Bethlehem alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Biden said the U.S. "will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death and will continue to stand up for media freedom everywhere in the world.”
Biden, struggling to pronounce her name, said Abu Akleh "was performing very vital work” when she was killed in May.
The U..State Department concluded earlier this month that Abu Akleh was likely killed by Israeli fire as she reported on a military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The report said it found no reason to suggest her killing was intentional.
Palestinian leaders, including Abbas, as well as Abu Akleh’s family, have rejected the State Department report and called for accountability for the Israeli military.
Speaking before Biden, Abbas said, "the killers of the martyr journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, they need to be held accountable.”
Palestinian journalists covering President Joe Biden’s visit are wearing black T-shirts bearing the image of Abu Akleh.
Biden has announced hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance to the Palestinians. But Palestinians are disappointed that there are no plans for a diplomatic initiative to promote the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
