Written by Michael Thervil
Video by Al Jazeera
In times of war no matter what side you’re on, there are certain populations that are protected. Institutions such as houses of worship and hospitals; people such as women, children, non-enemy combatants and of course Journalists. However, Israel either doesn’t see it this way and/or they seem to not care or what to ahead to international law. To date, the number of Journalists killed by Israel is up to 24 with 18 of them being Palestinian. What’s shameful about Israel is the fact that they can look at the international community and boldly lie when they say they are not purposely targeting Journalists.
The reason why we can say that Israel is lying when they say they don’t target journalists is because the drones that they use have cameras on them which were used to execute strikes where the Journalist were reporting from. Even more than that, all military forces conventional or otherwise conduct reconnaissance on the target(s) that they intend to strike – which means that more likely than not, Israel had to see the Journalists that were killed via drone as they were wearing international recognized blue colored ballistic vest with the word “PRESS” in big bold letters written across it.
MAHMUD HAMS | Credit: AFP via Getty Images (Left) (Reuters/Mohammed Salem (right)
Last year on May 11th, 2022, Al Jazeera Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh (US Citizen) was shot in the face and killed by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), while covering an Israeli raid in which there were no Palestinian fighters located. She is still deeply missed by friends, family, and fellow Journalists. To date there has been no charges brought against the IDF soldiers that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, and it seems as if she’s been simply chalked up as “collateral damage” during a time of war.
Another thing that has been going on is that Israel has blocked Journalists on an international level from having the ability to report from within the Gaza strip. In fact, Israel has been accused of threatening Journalists with threats of violence and death just for doing their job. Our message to Israel is this:
We are not afraid of you. You will not stop us from doing our job.
The public has a right to know.
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