On May 11th, 2022, our colleague Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin – wearing her press vest and helmet – while doing her job, to cover the news for Al Jazeera. To many in the Arab world, and especially in Palestine, Shireen was a hero, the kind of journalist who inspires others to go into this profession. Multiple investigations by media, human rights organizations, the Palestinian government, and the UN point to Israeli forces as responsible for her death, which Israel and the United States dispute. So, almost four months after her killing, The Take’s producers Amy Walters and Negin Owliaei were curious to discover the state of the investigation into Shireen’s death in Israel and the United States. They found that no US or Israeli official interviewed the Palestinian eyewitnesses. In “Justice for Shireen: The Israeli investigation – Part 1”, we spoke to Shireen’s colleagues, who were next to her when she was shot. We also talk to two Israeli rights group advocates about how the country runs its investigations. Step by step, we reconstruct the events of that day and hear the claims for justice.
Fifty years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion rights with Roe v Wade, we go back to the birthplace of the landmark legal case to look at life in a post-Roe world. In ‘Texas is not abortion-free yet’: After Roe v Wade, what’s next?, we explore what’s at stake after the overturn of the national right to abortion in the United States. In Texas, legislators and activists are striving to close remaining loopholes, including restrictions on travel to nearby states for the procedure and targeting abortion medication by mail. We listen to a former abortion provider, shedding light on the experiences and challenges she’s facing today.
Last September, when news broke that men were escaping Russia to avoid potential military conscription, The Take’s team immediately started looking for them to hear their stories. In “The Russians fleeing Putin’s military draft,” we addressed the consequences of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to mobilize 300,000 military reservists to join the war in Ukraine. We spoke to people who faced the difficult decision of either complying with the draft or seeking ways to evade it. This episode brings attention to the human stories behind geopolitical decisions, highlighting the individuals caught in the midst of conflict.
