Washington, July 13 : Secretary of State Antony Blinken has invited the family of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the United States, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.
In response to a reporter’s question about whether President Joe Biden would bring up her case during his trip to Israel, Sullivan said that Blinken “actually spoke with Shireen’s family a short while ago.”
“He has invited the family to the United States to be able to sit down and engage with them directly,” Sullivan added.
Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Israel, the NSA insisted that the Biden administration had been very engaged in trying to get to the bottom of her killing, adding that her case would “of course” be “one of the subjects at play” during Biden’s visit to Israel.
A beloved veteran journalist at Al Jazeera Arabic, Abu Akleh, was shot dead allegedly by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on May 11, while she was on an assignment in the occupied Palestinian city of Jenin.
Last week, her family sent a letter to Biden, demanding that he meets them during his regional tour and help ensure that justice is served in the investigation of her killing.