>> this is al jazeera. israeli forces have beaten mourners attending the funeral of a palestinian journalist. people struggled to hold onto the coffin as it nearly fell to the ground. the united nations security council has condemned the killing of the journalist. it also said it was shocked by video footage of israeli forces attacking mourners.

>> we've just seen the video coming from this, and it is very shocking to us. obviously, we will try to gather more information about what has happened here. as in all cases, we want to make sure that the basic rights to freedom of assembly and freedom to peaceful demonstration are protected and upheld. >> white house press secretary jennifer psaki said she was disturbed after seeing pictures of the attack. >> we have all seen those images. this is a day where we should be marking, including everyone there, the memory of a remarkable journalist who lost her life. with the disturbing footage from the funeral procession, we regret the intrusion into what should have been a peaceful procession. we've urged respect for the mourners and the family at this sensitive time. >> the president of the united

arab emirates and the leader of its capital abu dhabi has been laid to rest. the uae has announced 40 days of mourning for the leader. turkish president erdogan says he opposes sweden and finland joining nato. he made the comments a day after finland said it will apply to follow the block and sweden said it may follow suit. at least 27 people have died in a fire that broke out in india's capital city. police in new delhi say more than 40 people are in hospital, and dozens of others have been rescued. there other headlines, and the news continues on al jazeera after "inside story."

♪ >> after killing the al jazeera journalist, the israeli army meets mourners at her funeral. how can palestinians use her death to highlight israel's crimes, and can they win the battle for global public opinion? this is "inside story." ♪ host: welcome to the program. a funeral has been held at a roman catholic church in occupied easter rules -- east jerusalem for journalist shereen abu aqleh. she was buried next to the grave

of her parents. she was shot in the head in the occupied west bank while covering raids by israeli soldiers, but before the funeral service, israeli forces attacked those carrying her body. the mourners struggled to hold onto her coffin, and israeli forces charged them while they were trying to bring it from hospital to the hearse. a day before, her body was taken to ramallah where a state memorial was held for her at the presidential compound. israeli forces have carried out more raids in the west bank where shereen was killed. israel has been carrying out near daily raids since march with dozens killed and arrested during the operations. it says its actions are in response to palestinian attacks.

let's bring in our guests. from occupied east jerusalem, a professor of international law. a journalist, a u.n. special reporter on the occupied territory. from tel aviv, a political analyst and contributor for israeli newspaper "heretz." now that shereen abu aqleh has been laid to rest, the israelis, the palestinian authority, united nations said to those who killed her must be held accountable. do you see that happening anytime soon? >> i have to be optimistic despite the fact that i am not optimistic. history has shown us that many crimes have taken place in the occupied palestinian territory and have not been -- the

perpetrators have not been held accountable so far, and this is the sad reality. this is because of unlimited support for israel from its friends and partners who might sometimes criticize some of the actions that israel conducts. nonetheless, i have to continue to be optimistic. i'm a human rights defender. we are working on documenting human rights violations, analyzing human rights violations according to international law, and speaking to the international community, asking them to intervene how they would intervene in any situation.

they've conducted sanctions and taken a lot of measures in order to convince russia to step back from this invasion. the same should be implemented also in palestine appeared host: let's go to francesca. after the outpouring of emotions from palestinians, how to start an investigation into what happened to shereen abu aqleh and tackled the need to ending impunity in israel -- this is something addressed by human rights organizations. >> first, let me put in context this because i think it is part of my work.

this killing of journalists is part of widespread human rights violations that take place in palestine a. there are journalists who have been killed and injured over the past 20-25 years. this is what i investigate on a regular basis. what i wish to add is this level of violence is part and parcel of the occupation, the nature of the occupation.

of course, i look into it as part of my mandate how journalists are undermined, especially at a point where israeli civil society voices are targeted with increasing repression, and there is no way otherwise to understand the reality on the ground if no one reports about that. >> how would you characterize the way the israeli government has been handling the aftermath of shereen abu aqleh and the international backlash? >> i think both sides are taking advantage of this tragedy. shereen is dead.

i admired her work and knew her personally, and i am very upset the president of the palestinian authority was there to blame it on israel. on the other hand, israel was rushing to blame it on terrorists. i think if shereen was not a dangerous journalist, and the international community following this event closely, i think she would be added to a long list of fatalities that are, as was said before, part of the occupation. i believe you will hear is raley's -- israelis blaming the international community for

double standards. i checked that this would be mentioned. in the last several months, 14 journalists were killed in the ukrainian war. do you know their names? that is what they will ask you. no, you don't. it is part of anti-semitism and so on. a member of the israeli cabinet called for an independent investigation because he said israel lost its credibility. >> francesca is an expert in international law working for the u.n., dealing now -- you are mandate is about documenting human rights violations and addressing them in the palestinian occupied territory. give us a sense of how to move forward. what are the tools you have to bring about the case?

they seem to be in denial about responsibility. >> israel in particular is very high at the moment. i don't think that israel should be in the lead of this investigation. what is needed is independence, transparency.

the justice system in general, it has been confirmed, but the recent decision from the israeli supreme court is, i'm sorry to say, part and parcel of maintaining the occupation. what seems to happen is independent experts are given the possibility to investigate. it's the situation and palestine that has been carried out by the icc prosecutor. when it concerns journalists, the international federation of journalists submitted a formal complaint to the court in the

name of four journalists who have been killed in gaza, including with the bombing of two media towers. this is the course of action that i hope we will see happening. host: do you see this as a moment to bring about the issue of the killing of murdered palestinian journalists over the last few years? >> we have been waiting now for a long time for the international criminal court to intervene. it's also very important to say

that israel has been come over the years, not cooperating with different human rights operations that are ongoing by the united nations, the procedures and the like. for example, the palestinian territory, like your guest has said, they've not been allowed to enter palestine, and this is something that has to change. if israel wants to seek truth, they have to allow independent experts like her and the commission of inquiry that was founded last year.

everything possible that seeks to find justice, and it's unfortunate. the issue of palestine is being discussed three times a year. they are boycotting it, and this is very sad. while they might condemn israel's actions, they are acting in the international arena in a way that is not consistent with their words. host: you get a sense that somehow the israeli government is more conrned with not losing the pr were -- war.

from day one, they said, we blame it on the palestinian fighters. now they seem to be backtracking and saying, we will be investigating. there's a case where the fire may have come from israeli soldiers. >> the good news is unlike previous governments headed by the radical right, now we have a muslim party still a part of the coalition, as well as the labour party, and prime minister bennett has to take them into consideration. on the other hand, if they will

allow an impartial investigation by an independent inquiry -- if you can remember what happened with richard goldstone in 2009, he was boycotted by israel, and then he joined this committee. at the end of the day, i don't really expect israel to allow palestinians to enter -- interview israeli soldiers. in the meantime, they will interview members of hamas they consider terrorists. yes, israel is more concerned about pr than before. israel has to take into consideration its relationship with qatar while qatar was

playing a major role in quieting gaza and hamas. israel has got something to lose. on the other hand, we don't see sanctions. even if israeli soldiers are held accountable for this, there will be a disciplinary process. last time there was an inquiry, it ended up with almost nothing. they will say this is a war zone. journalists are part of the whole game and will pay the price. host: francesca, you just heard what he has been saying. the potential of army generals prosecuting their own soldiers

for the case of shereen abu aqleh are really slim. the u.s., the eu, the u.k. generally speaking have done their best to quiet any report of human rights violations in palestinian occupied territory. the outcome looks somber. >> yes, i see that argument, and i agree with the problem. there are two comments i would like to make here. on the one hand, it must be investigated independently. on the other hand, it's teaching less violence. impunity only leads to further violence and abuse.

we need to zoom out from the specificity of the situation. i really encourage the political actors you mentioned to stop using an ad hoc and an emergency humanitarian lens when approaching the issue of palestine. the situation -- it is a political reality dominated by widespread abuses and a violence that requires a huge political action that starts with the dismantlement of the occupation and enterprise. i seeing no other way to get past it than discussing how to end the occupation. otherwise, we are just running in circles.

host: we understand the reason why there is the squabble over the semantics of the investigation, but don't you see ultimately that if you have israeli experts alongside palestinian experts alongside the united nations and u.s., that could be the ideal outcome? >> i don't see any reason why this is needed. israel knows who shot the bullet already. it has the capacity, in the same way israel has the capacity to find any palestinian they want if they posted something on facebook or if they carry a weapon or whatever, and they will go into palestinian cities and villages and order to arrest them and prosecute them. why is this israeli intelligence not intelligent enough to find their own criminals?

why when they find these criminals do they not prosecute them? it is because of the original problem. the system is built to protect its politicians, to protect its military men, and to make sure they are not prosecuted. human rights organizations have concluded that this is an apartheid regime, that it is dominating the palestinians, and it is creating an org -- and organizing its legal system, engineering its legal system in a way that would make sure the palestinians are kept dominated. actually, we could see this in the way the funeral was held today. the police were just running after people, hitting people with their sticks, the people who were actually carrying the coffin, and it's part of their

domination. they want to show us that they are in control, that people cannot express their feelings, they cannot express their anger, they cannot carry a palestinian flag, and they cannot be sad in the way they want to be sad. this is the regime, and the problem with the regime is its laws and legal system and its court. this is something that has been concluded. if they want to find justice, sure, they can. >> let's move forward. we have a few other issues to tackle. do you think the very nature of the israeli governing coalition is one of the reasons why we will decide the outcome of what happens next? because the prime minister is most concerned about giving an indication that it is a concession to palestinians about shereen abu aqleh would be seen as a sign of weakness. >> absolutely.

his hands are tied, one by members of his own party who are threatening to bring down the coalition government, and as i mentioned before, by the muslim party, mahmoud abbas. abbas is not part of this game. they don't take him into consideration. i think the context in which the israelis see the event is that it happened two days after three israelis were killed, butchered by two palestinian youngsters. i am not going to justify what happened and the killing of shereen, but trying to analyze the israeli point of view, if you do a public poll, the

israelis care more about the threat of terrorism coming mainly from the refugee camp than about what happened with shereen. this is unfortunate because this is a vicious cycle that is not going to end soon, i am afraid. host: the israeli government made it clear when your name was first presented to take over the post of the united nations reporter for the palestinian occupied territory, accusing you of being a biased person. the americans, as we say it, along with -- there were some key players, the europeans and the u.k., have always been a very skeptical about the reports of the human rights council. how are you planning to move forward? >> let me share a consideration

i had on the momentous reality we are living in, also because of the tragic war taking place in ukraine. this situation has giving me a sense of hope in the fact that this country, those who have criticized the human rights council, as the professor was saying, it gives me the sense that this country still believes in an international order and international law. at the moment, everyone is an expert about international humanitarian law being violated in ukraine. i see an incredible disconnect between these arguments, these appalling affronts of international law compared to palestine.

it boils down to political will. they oppose what i say, but what i say is based on international humanitarian law. it's not my intention. >> we will have to leave it there. my guests, i appreciate your insight. thank you for watching. you can see the program by visiting our website aljaze era.com. you can also join the story on twitter. our handle is @ajinsidestory. for the entire team here in doha, bye for now.

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