CNN’s “Evidence” Israel Assassinated Shireen Abu Aqleh is Nothing But a Blood Libel

David Lange |

May 25, 2022

Yesterday, CNN published a report suggesting that Israel deliberately killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.

The report is nothing but a blood libel, a contrived attempt to get to a predetermined outcome, which is to accuse Israel of murder.

Evidentiary Problems and False Conclusions

This thread by the Algemeiner’s Dovid Efune highlights some glaring issues with CNN’s “analysis”:

CNN's claims defy logic and some are overtly false. The report also makes ample use of multiple discredited sources and uses word tricks to misdirect the reader.

Below is a partial breakdown of the deceitful account and the unanswered questions it leaves.
— Dovid Efune (@Efune) May 24, 2022

1. Per CNN's own map, the Israeli forces were positioned in between Abu Akleh and the militants. If they were shooting at each other (green arrow for IDF, red arrow for gunmen), then the Palestinians were the only ones shooting in Abu Akleh's direction. pic.twitter.com/lnY4EuRLMx
— Dovid Efune (@Efune) May 24, 2022

3. The report relies heavily on "eyewitnesses."

Citing witness testimony from within what @NatanSharansky would call a "fear society" is inherently problematic.

The sources are highly motivated to toe the line and would place themselves at great personal risk if they didn't.
— Dovid Efune (@Efune) May 24, 2022

Cobb-Smith claims that the grouping of bullet holes at the scene could not have come from random (militant) fire.

But CNN ignores the likelihood that the gunmen were firing — and specifically aiming — in the direction of the IDF, whom Abu Akleh was standing behind.
— Dovid Efune (@Efune) May 24, 2022

5. CNN's final piece of "evidence" comes from forensic audio analyst Robert Maher who matches the distance (200m) from which the deadly bullet was fired to the IDF.

Maher seems straight enough, but here's the catch. Per CNN, there were 2 volleys fired in Abu Akleh's direction…
— Dovid Efune (@Efune) May 24, 2022

If, as seems a more likely scenario, the militants (from 300m) came up behind the Israelis and fired in their (and Abu Akleh's) direction, then the Israelis would have returned fire (from 200m) towards them.

Maher may be right on distance, but the IDF was shooting the other way.
— Dovid Efune (@Efune) May 24, 2022

Daniel Laufer highlights some other issues:

CNN also repeated B'tselem's claim Palestinian gunmen firing couldn't have hit Shireen because buildings separated them.@CNN missed the many commentators who showed the corner the gunmen fired from directly led to Shireen.https://t.co/Z7uuYdovlS
— Daniel Laufer (@lauferdaniel) May 25, 2022

Problematic Witnesses and “Experts”

Jamal Huwail

The CNN report relies partially on witness Jamal Huwail, a former Fatah lawmaker:

Jamal Huwail, a professor at the Arab American University in Jenin, who helped drag Abu Akleh’s lifeless body from the road, said he believed the shots were coming from one of the Israeli vehicles, which he described as a “new model which had an opening for snipers,” because of the elevation and direction of the bullets.” They were shooting directly at the journalists,” Huwail said.
Huwail, a former parliamentarian and member of the Palestinian Fatah Party in Jenin, first met Abu Akleh two decades ago, when Israel launched a major military operation in the camp, destroying more than 400 homes and displacing a quarter of its population. When he spoke with the journalist briefly that morning of May 11 at the Awdeh roundabout, she had showed him a video of one of their early interviews from 2002. The next time he saw her up close, she was dead.

Huwail is a terror-supporter and anything but a credible witness.

Fatah Official Jamal Al-Huwail Praises “Lone Lion” Who Murdered Four Israelis in a Beersheba Knife Attack: It Proves Palestinians Believe in Palestine from the River to the Sea #Fatah #Palestinians #terrorism #Israel pic.twitter.com/1FxJEBbLWo
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 27, 2022

Chris Cobb-Smith

Chris Cobb-Smith is quoted as their “explosive weapons expert”:

Cobb-Smith, a security consultant and British army veteran, told CNN he believed Abu Akleh was killed in discrete shots — not a burst of automatic gunfire. To reach that conclusion, he looked at imagery obtained by CNN, which show markings the bullets left on the tree where Abu Akleh fell and Hanaysha was taking cover.”
The number of strike marks on the tree where Shireen was standing proves this wasn’t a random shot, she was targeted,” Cobb-Smith told CNN, adding that, in sharp contrast, the majority of gunfire from Palestinians captured on camera that day were “random sprays.”
As evidence, he pointed to two videos that showed Palestinian gunmen firing haphazardly down alleyways in different parts of Jenin. The videos were circulated by the office of Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, and Israel’s foreign ministry, with a voiceover in Arabic saying: “They’ve hit one — they’ve hit a soldier. He’s lying on the ground.”

He works for the notoriously anti-Israel group Forensic Architecture and has produced at least one report for Al-Haq, a group affiliated with the terrorist organization PFLP, and one with a track record in deliberately lying.

Highly Biased, Anti-Israel Reporters

A look at who wrote this story, as well as who was cited, indicates that this is anything but an objective, credible analysis, but rather an attempt to demonize Israel at all costs.

Zeena Saifi

Saifi is a journalist who is clearly not objective when it comes to the conflict, as her Twitter feed betrays:

This includes retweeting an Al Jazeera article painting antisemitic terror supporter Muna al-Kurd as a heroine.

Kareem Khadder

A CNN producer based in Jerusalem, Khadder’s Twitter feed also reveals a strong anti-Israel bias:

But more than that; he had already convicted Israel of killing Aqleh weeks before this so-called “analysis”:

Celine Alkhaldi

Journalist Celine Alkhaldi is another whose bias is betrayed on social media. For instance, she has no issue trusting the (Hamas-led) Ministry of Health when it comes to casualty figures:

Katie Polglase

An Investigative Researcher based at CNN’s London Bureau, Polgase is another who is clearly not objective when it comes to the conflict. She sees Israel as the obstacle to peace, not Fatah or Hamas:

and sees opposing the Jewish right of self-determination as a “moral stance” and not at all antisemitic:

‘Nuff said.

For all of the above reasons, CNN’s report is anti-Israel propaganda masquerading as serious journalism, aimed to incite againt the Jewish state.

And yes, it is an antisemitic blood libel.

David Lange

A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media