‘Voice of the voiceless’: Press TV correspondents pay tribute to slain Palestinian journalist

The cold-blooded murder of veteran Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, by the marauding Israeli regime forces has drawn widespread anger and outrage across the world.

Journalists from different countries have hailed the 51-year-old slain Al Jazeera Arabic journalist for her exemplary courage in exposing horrendous crimes committed by the occupying regime.

Press TV correspondents in their messages paid glowing tributes to the fallen journalist who was shot in the head by trigger-happy Israeli troops while covering a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Abu Akleh, who shot to fame in the early 2000s while covering the second Palestinian intifada, was hit in the face despite sporting a vest with 'press' written on it, prompting fellow journalists and rights activists to dub it premeditated murder.

Her murder, though not an isolated incident, lays bare the occupying regime’s desperate attempts to crack down on the press, muzzle free speech, and silence those giving voice to the oppressed and subjugated people in Palestine.

Her tragic death has shaken the collective conscience of people across the world, including in the Middle East region, who have poured into the streets in recent days to condemn the ghastly act of terror.

In their heartfelt messages, Press TV correspondents vehemently condemned the murder of Abu Akleh and hailed her as the “voice of the voiceless”.

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“Israeli forces specialize in killing (Palestinians)”, Mona Kandil, a Press TV correspondent in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, said in her message, while paying tribute to her compatriot.

Jerome Hughes, a Press TV correspondent based in Brussels, said Abu Akleh’s killing was “a part of Israel’s systematic and well-documented policy of targeting journalists.”

Max Civili, a Press TV correspondent in Rome, while condemning the dastardly crime said the “Israeli state-sponsored terrorism must end.”

London-based Press TV correspondent, Bianca Rahimi, who also hosts a segment of the ‘Palestine Declassified’ show on the channel, in her comments said Palestinians were “not viewed as human beings in the eyes of Israelis,” blasting the regime over the journalist’s murder.

Press TV correspondent in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Syed Ali Safvi, said the slain journalist represented “a big threat” to the Tel Aviv regime and so they “wanted to silence her.”

Frank Smith, a South Korea-based correspondent for Press TV, in his message said Western media outlets are “free to criticize world states and their actions, except for the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes in the occupied Palestinian lands”.

The correspondents expressed solidarity with fellow journalists reporting from the occupying Palestinian territories and called upon activists, journalists, and international rights organizations to break their silence on the naked Israeli aggression and take necessary measures to put an end to this deadly cycle of violence unleashed by the Tel Aviv regime.

They also called out double standards of the mainstream Western media for distorting facts about Abu Akleh’s gruesome murder, while going out of their way for journalists killed in other parts of the world.

The headlines in Western media outlets on the incident have smacked of misrepresentation, obfuscation, spin-doctoring, and bizarre distortion of facts to fit a particular narrative.

Press TV correspondents also blasted the international community for not holding the Israeli regime to account for its murderous assaults on Palestinians, which they asserted has only emboldened the regime to press ahead with its unchecked crimes against the oppressed people.

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In video footage from the incident circulated widely online, Abu Akleh could be seen wearing a blue flak jacket marked with the word “PRESS”, exposing the gruesome nature of the daylight murder.

Ali Samoudi, a Palestinian journalist who was accompanying Abu Akleh, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back.

Samoudi told the Associated Press that they were among a group of seven reporters who went to cover the Israeli raid early Wednesday.

He said they were all wearing protective gear that marked them as reporters, and they passed by Israeli troops so the soldiers would see them.

The journalist said the first shot missed them, then a second struck him, and a third killed Abu Akleh, adding that there were no combatants or other civilians in the area — only the reporters and Israeli army troops.

Shaza Hanaysheh, a reporter with a Palestinian news website, who was also among the reporters, gave a similar account, stressing there were no clashes or shooting in the immediate area.

She said that when the shots rang out she and Abu Akleh ran toward a tree to take shelter.

“I reached the tree before Shireen. She fell on the ground,” Hanaysheh said. “The soldiers did not stop shooting even after she fell. Every time I extended my hand to pull Shireen, the soldiers fired at us.”

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Violence erupted as the Palestinian mourners began to move Abu Akleh’s casket from hospital in Sheikh Jarrah in the occupied al-Quds.

The Palestinian Ministry of Information condemned what it said was a “shocking crime” committed by Israeli forces.

“The Israeli occupation has repeatedly targeted, injured, and assaulted Palestinian journalists. Shireen joins other journalists that Israel killed as they worked on revealing the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

“The killing can never deter our people from continuing the struggle for freedom, will only shorten the life of the occupying regime, and will bring us closer to freedom and an end to Israeli impunity,” it said in a statement.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk