Rep. Rashida Tlaib Criticizes Biden Administration's "Silence" Over Killing Of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh In Al-Jazeera TV Interview, Adds: Israel's Apartheid Government Perpetrates War Crimes; U.S. Should Investigate

U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in a May 17, 2022 interview on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that the U.S. should investigate the death of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed during a May 11, 2022 firefight between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. She explained that Israel perpetrates war crimes and is an apartheid and therefore cannot be trusted to carry out an unbiased investigation. Rep. Tlaib also criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for being "silent" on this matter, adding that the U.S. should stop its financial aid to Israel: "No more blank checks. Stop funding it."

Rep. Rashida Tlaib: "Much of our resources — $3.8 billion — go as aid from the U.S. to the Israeli government, which perpetrates war crimes. A number of human rights organizations say that the Israeli government is an apartheid government.

"We view the killing [of Shireen Abu Akleh] as a serious matter. The U.S. must speak up. The Biden administration is silent and some of its officials use language that I feel is very cautious and not strong enough to guarantee that the Israeli government knows how serious this matter is, and just how much we uphold human rights.

"We cannot allow people who perpetrate war crimes to investigate them themselves. This is not just. We know that such an investigation would be completely biased. If the apartheid government of Israel thinks that it did nothing wrong, the U.S. should conduct this investigation and reach the truth.

"No more blank checks. Stop funding it. It is not just about Shireen. Next time it could be children."