Vatican slams Israel for attacking funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

The top Catholic officials in Jerusalem strongly criticized Israel on Monday for Friday’s attack on the funeral procession of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Israeli riot police stormed the courtyard of St. Joseph Hospital, where Abu Akleh’s funeral procession was starting, and kicked and beat the pallbearers, causing them to nearly drop the coffin.

“The Israel Police’s invasion and disproportionate use of force — attacking mourners, striking them with batons, using smoke grenades, shooting rubber bullets, frightening the hospital patients — is a severe violation of international norms and regulations, including the fundamental human right of freedom of religion,” Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of the Holy Land, said at Monday’s press conference at St. Joseph Hospital.

Monsignor Tomasz Grysa, the Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem, said Israel’s “violent intrusion” into Abu Akleh’s funeral “brutally violated” a 1993 agreement between the Roman Catholic Church and Israel that “upholds and observes the human right of freedom of religion.” Jamil Koussa, St. Joseph Hospital’s director, said the target of the raid was Abu Akleh’s coffin itself and said the Israeli police storming the hospital was an attempt to “horrify people in the building.”

Israel’s police force defended its conduct on Friday, saying it they had “intervened to disperse the mob and prevent them from taking the coffin,” instead of putting in a hearse, as Abu Akleh’s family had planned. Abu Akleh’s brother Anton disputed that rationale, saying he “never gave any promises to the Israeli police” and nothing justifies their “inhumane attack” on the funeral.

Abu Akleh, who was Catholic, was shot dead Wednesday while covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp. Witnesses, including reporters nearby, and Al Jazeera said Israeli forces shot Abu Agla, who was wearing a blue protective vest clearly marked “Press.” Israel, after first suggesting a Palestinian gunman had fired the fatal shot, said over the weekend it will investigate whether she was hit by Israeli fire

Dutch open-source research consortium Bellingcat said that based on its review of evidence from Palestinian and Israeli military sources, Israeli soldiers “were in the closest position and had the clearest line of sight to Abu Akleh,” suggesting she was killed by Israli fire.

The top Catholic officials in Jerusalem strongly criticized Israel on Monday for Friday’s attack on the funeral procession of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Israeli riot police stormed the courtyard of St. Joseph Hospital, where Abu Akleh’s funeral procession was starting, and kicked and beat the pallbearers, causing them to nearly drop the coffin. “The…

The top Catholic officials in Jerusalem strongly criticized Israel on Monday for Friday’s attack on the funeral procession of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Israeli riot police stormed the courtyard of St. Joseph Hospital, where Abu Akleh’s funeral procession was starting, and kicked and beat the pallbearers, causing them to nearly drop the coffin. “The…