This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on May 24, 2022. It is shared here with permission.

Today CNN published its own investigation of the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, and it says that new eyewitnesses, videos and ballistic analysis bear out what Abu Akleh’s colleagues said that day: The Al Jazeera correspondent was targeted by an Israeli sniper positioned about 600 feet away from her with a clear line of sight.

CNN’s team of six journalists writes:

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CNN’s devastating report shows the media are not dropping the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, even if the Israeli government is. Hopefully this will bring added pressure on the U.S. government to investigate the case on its own, as 57 Congresspeople have urged it to do, and demand accountability for the killing.

The new investigation, which follows on similar forensic analyses by Bellingcat and B’Tselem, supports the assertions of journalist eyewitnesses, in the face of Israeli denials.

CNN points out that an Israeli army spokesperson Ran Kochav described the journalists as “armed with cameras” later that day.

The CNN investigation reviewed a 16-minute video shot by Salim Awad, a 27-year-old Jenin camp resident.

Awad witnessed the attack.

Another witness reinforced this account:

The investigation analyzed videos and photos of the scene with the help of two military experts, to conclude that the shot that hit Abu Akleh was fired by a sniper aiming at a target in a manner that points to Israeli soldiers positioned about 600 feet away.

A second expert consulted by CNN was Robert Maher, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Montana State University, who specializes in forensic audio analysis. Maher analyzed the intervals between the sounds of bullets leaving the barrel and the subsequent muzzle explosions recorded on video to assess the distance of the shooter from the camera.

The best thing about the CNN report is that it shows that international media are not going to forget about Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing. We can only hope that more media and free speech organizations become advocates for Abu Akleh in death, as governments try to push the case aside.