Pro-Israel Republican senators call for investigation into Abu Akleh killing to be shut down

A group of Republican US senators have penned a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) urging them to cease their investigation into the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The veteran Al Jazeera reporter was shot dead by Israeli forces while on assignment covering Israeli raids in the Jenin area in the West Bank in May. 

In their letter, dated 14 December, the eight Republican lawmakers, led by Marco Rubio of Florida and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, suggest that the probe could negatively affect US-Israel ties. 

"This misguided investigation into the IDF (Israeli military), which the DOJ and FBI have no jurisdiction over, must be closed immediately before further harm comes to our bilateral relationship with Israel," reads the letter.

It also said that the Israeli military had completed an investigation into the killing and found they could not determine the source of the gunfire.

Witness accounts by journalists who were at the scene when Abu Akleh was shot dead, as well as investigative news reports, including by CNN, all resoundingly point to an Israeli soldier being the source of the gunfire.  

Since the incident seven months ago, multiple NGOs, activists and US lawmakers (mainly Democrats) have called for an international and a US-led investigation into the killing. This pressure possibly led last month to the FBI opening a probe into her killing. 

The path to a US-led investigation has been slow and prickly, given Israel's position as a major US ally and aid recipient. 

The lawmakers highlighted this relationship in their letter, describing the FBI investigation as overreach and a disregard of Israeli sovereignty.

"We are dismayed the DOJ and FBI are seeking to disregard Israeli sovereignty by inserting itself into an investigation which has concluded and which US officials participated in," the letter reads.

"The investigation highlights DOJ and FBI’s overreach and politicization of investigations."

The letter concludes with the signatories promising to continue following up on the matter.

"We will remain vigilant on this issue and will press the Department of State on the FBI Legal Attaché notification processes at our overseas missions regarding foreign policy coordination efforts and deconfliction."