WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The United States has voiced opposition to Al Jazeera’s push to ensure accountability at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot by Zionist troops in the occupied West Bank earlier this year.
Hours after the network submitted a request to The Hague-based court on Tuesday to investigate and prosecute those responsible for killing the Palestinian-American journalist, the U.S. State Department said it rejects the move.
“We oppose it in this case,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
Washington has long stood against Palestinian-led efforts to take up the Zionist regime’s abuses with international bodies, including at the United Nations and the ICC.
“We maintain our longstanding objections to the ICC’s investigation into the Palestinian situation,” Price said when asked about Al Jazeera’s request to the court.
“The ICC should focus on its core mission. And that core mission is of serving as a court of last resort in punishing and deterring atrocity crimes.”
Abu Akleh was fatally shot by Zionist troops during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on May 11. Her killing spurred worldwide condemnation and demands for justice.
The far-right Zionist politician Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the expulsion of Al Jazeera journalists from the occupied territories.
Ben-Gvir, who heads the far-right Jewish Strength Party, is expected to become the occupying regime’s so-called national security minister in the upcoming Zionist cabinet headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Besides shielding the Zionist regime on the international arena, the U.S. provides the occupying regime with an annual military assistance package worth close to $4 billion that it freely uses to shore up its occupation of the Palestinian territories and reinforce its often deadly efforts to trample on Palestinians’ freedoms.