(Washington) – US Chief of Diplomacy Anthony Blinken said today, Friday, that the United States is “deeply disturbed” by “Israeli police interference” during the funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akle.
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“We were deeply disturbed to see the photos of the Israeli police storming the funeral,” the foreign minister said in a press release.
When the coffin was removed from St. Joseph’s Hospital in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector of the city occupied and annexed by the Jewish state, Israeli police stormed the institution’s buildings and attempted to disperse a crowd waving Palestinian flags.
The coffin almost fell from the hands of the carriers crowded by the police, but they were caught in the extreme, according to pictures broadcast on local television showing police using batons.
“Every family deserves to be able to bury their loved ones with dignity and freedom,” said Anthony Blinken, who called for calm and warned against “any action that might exacerbate tensions.”
“We’ve all seen these photos, they’re very disturbing,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier, as well as lamenting “the intrusion into what should have been a quiet procession.”
Al-Jazeera TV star Sherine Abu Akleh was shot in the head on Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
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