How Biden's Israel approach bets on 'short' public attention span

Washington, DC – Despite numerous eyewitness testimonies, investigations by media outlets and rights groups, and a Palestinian probe all determining that Israeli forces fatally shot journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the United States has not condemned Israel for the killing. Instead, since the veteran Al Jazeera reporter was killed on May 11 in the occupied West Bank, top US officials have insisted that Israel can and should conduct an investigation. But in this US response, many advocates see a familiar script that President Joe Biden's administration has employed on more than one occasion to address Israeli violations: raise concerns, call for more information, and then move on like they never happened. "It's pretty damn thick file of abuses and murders and violations without any end or acceptable outcome as to the investigation of these crimes," Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC, a think tank, told Al Jazeera. "So that is continuing unfortunately, and governments on purpose bet on the short attention span of the public."