A widely criticized incident. The European Union condemned “the disproportionate use of force and the disrespectful behavior of the Israeli police against the participants in the funeral procession”, according to its head of diplomacy Josep Borrell.
On the side of Washington, “we were deeply disturbed to see the images of the intrusion of the Israeli police in the funeral procession” of the journalist, said the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a press release.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also said he was “deeply disturbed” by the behavior of “some Israeli policemen”.
The procession attacked as soon as it left the hospital
At the exit of the coffin of this hospital in East Jerusalem, Palestinian sector of the city occupied and annexed by the Hebrew State, the Israeli police burst into the premises of the establishment and tried to disperse a crowd waving flags Palestinians.
The coffin almost fell from the hands of the carriers jostled by the police but was caught in extremis, according to images broadcast by local television which also show the police using truncheons.
“If you don’t stop these nationalist songs, we will have to disperse you using force and we will prevent the funeral from taking place,” an Israeli policeman said in a megaphone to the crowd, according to a video released by the police.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, 33 people were injured during the funeral. Israeli police reported six arrests.
The unanimous Security Council
On Wednesday, the American-Palestinian journalist for Al Jazeera, Qatar TV, was shot in the head while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. , Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. She wore a bulletproof vest marked “press” and a reporter’s helmet.
This murder prompted a unanimous statement from the UN Security Council overnight from Friday to Saturday, which “strongly condemned” it.
Initiated by the United States, this very rare unanimous position of the Security Council on a subject concerning Israel also calls for “an immediate, thorough, transparent and impartial investigation” into this murder.
At first, Israel claimed that she “probably” succumbed to Palestinian fire. But the Jewish state then said it did not rule out that the bullet was fired by its soldiers. The Palestinian Authority, Al Jazeera and the government of Qatar have accused the Israeli army of killing her.
After the intervention of the police, the crowd accompanied the coffin to a church in the Old City where a mass was pronounced, before going to the cemetery.