Report: Biden Admin Protests to Israel over Police Conduct at Palestinian Journalist’s Funeral

President Joe Biden’s administration has protested to the Israeli government over the alleged conduct of Israeli police during the funeral Friday of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot covering clashes earlier this week.

Akleh, 51, was reporting on an Israeli raid that aimed to arrest Palestinian suspects in the midst of a wave of ongoing terror by Palestinians against Israeli civilians. Palestinian gunmen fired on the Israeli soldiers. Abu Akleh was hit in the neck by a bullet, though it is not clear who fired it, and Palestinian officials have ben refusing to cooperate in a joint investigation.

On Friday, during a funeral procession for Abu Akleh in Jerusalem, Israeli police rushed into the crowd of mourners, and the pallbearers nearly dropped the coffin. The procession had begun far from the assigned route, and mourners in the crowd also unfurled Palestinian flags, in a provocative gesture.

The Israeli police said afterwards that members of the procession had attacked them with stones and other projectiles, but it was not clear if this had happened before or after the initial clashes.

Saturday also marks the 74th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel on the secular calendar. Palestinians call it “Nakba Day,” marking the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding, and it is often the occasion for riots by Palestinian activists.

According to Axios Middle East correspondent Barak Ravid, the Biden administration issued a formal protest to Israel:

Outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki, facing queries from journalists about the procession, said the images were “deeply disturbing.” Several Democrats lashed out at Israel, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) accusing Israel of “murder.”

Prime Minsiter Naftali Bennett, whose rise last year promised to improve relations between a post-Netanyahu government and a left-wing U.S. government, has been struggling to control the violence and to win the trust of Biden’s Democrats.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.