An enemy whose current military strategy can be summed up as the destruction of as much civilian infrastructure as possible, followed by the denial of the civilian nature of those “targets” or of the actions altogether, relies heavily on sympathetic state media to alchemize what is plain to the eye under the banner of, “yes, but it’s not what you think.” A successful resistance movement integrates multiple fronts. In the face of this enemy, our journalists play an outsized role in establishing reality.
As the Israelis withdrew from Lebanese territory in May 2000, they killed Abed Takkoush, a news assistant and driver working for the BBC. First, they tried to point the finger at their proxy fighters, whom they’d left behind to fend for themselves. Ample video footage substantiated direct Israeli culpability: it was “an unprovoked attack on Mr. Takkoush’s blue Mercedes by an Israeli Merkava tank stationed about 4,000 feet away, inside Israeli territory,” The New York Times reported a month later. Jeremy Bowen, the BBC reporter Takkoush had driven to the southern border to report on the Israeli withdrawal, approached the burning car. The Israelis responded with rounds of machine gun fire, to warn both him and the Lebanese Red Cross truck that tried to aid Takkoush, to stay away. Later, the Israeli Army admitted blame, calling it a “tragic accident.” The camera man’s tripod could have been an anti-tank missile launcher, the Army claimed. Never mind the day had been quiet, and the only fire across the border for the past couple of days was sporadic, exclusively from the Israeli side, targeting civilians who’d returned to their land for the first time in years.
In August 2010, the Israelis tried to uproot a tree obstructing their surveillance capacity along the Lebanese-Israeli border. Their crane crossed into Lebanese territory, and the Lebanese Army fired warning shots into the air, and the Israelis responded by firing at the Lebanese soldiers. Missiles from an Israeli helicopter killed Assaf Abu Rahal, a reporter for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, who’d arrived at the border to report on the escalation.
During Gaza’s Great March of Return protests between 2018 to 2019, tens of thousands of Palestinians marched to call for an end to the siege and to demand their United Nations-guaranteed Right of Return. On April 6, 2018, an Israeli sniper targeted journalist Yasser Mortaja in his abdomen, just below his blue bulletproof vest marked PRESS, and killed him. In the immediate aftermath the Israeli army claimed it “does not intentionally shoot at journalists.” They added that the “circumstances in which the journalist was allegedly hit by IDF gunfire are unknown and under investigation.”
“Allegedly.”
And if it turned out Israel did kill him, the act was already justified: then-Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said without producing any evidence that Hamas “activists” often “disguised themselves as medics and journalists,” and that the Israelis “do not take chances in those cases.” The press vest becomes a front, and the Israelis could, in the name of security interests, kill anyone.
A couple of weeks later, the Israelis killed another journalist covering the same protests, Ahmad Abu Hussein, also dressed in press gear such that his killing must have been intentional, too. Over the course of those months, Israeli snipers injured thirty-nine media workers. Can’t “take chances.”
Since 2000, Israel has killed at least 20 Palestinian journalists. No one has been held accountable. In 2022, the high-profile Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered at the entrance of Jenin, where she’d just arrived to cover the Israeli carnage against the refugee camp. There were numerous live witnesses, including other members of the press. The whole thing was recorded. And it was clear, based on where the bullet entered, that this was the work of someone trained to kill with precision. The Israelis blamed the Palestinians, then denied, denied, denied, and eventually, they admitted blame and there were no consequences for their sniper.
A pattern emerges: Israel targets journalists. Western media feigns ignorance of this pattern, and every time, we must go through the same procedural steps irrespective of what the eyes can see. First, they express their doubts or disbelief. Then, this media apparatus engages with the other side’s (read: our) media. They report “unconfirmed” claims and call on the Israelis to pursue a swift, impartial investigation. (The unspoken assumption here: the Israelis are capable of impartiality in a way Arab actors will never be.) The Israelis deny, or they claim “human shield” or “security threat,” and the Western media conveys this. Satisfied with some version of “they did it to themselves,” Western media moves on. Weeks or months later, the Israelis vaguely admit to the deed, and this media isn’t compelled to carry the story along in its news cycle long enough for it to gain traction.
Because of the shock, initial reports on the targeted killings of journalists are widely amplified on social media. Their language deserves special attention. AP’s initial reporting on Abu Akleh’s death read, “killed by gunfire” without specifying who was responsible. On live TV, Israeli forces attacked her pallbearers’ legs with batons. Legs buckled, and the casket slipped, and The New York Times and BBC called these “clashes.”
Before the dust settles, no matter how obvious it is what clouded the air, Western media outlets leverage ambiguity under the guise of responsible journalism to deliberately obscure Israeli aggression. Often, news agencies pursue this framing against their own staff in what can only be described as a stunning betrayal. On October 13, Israeli forces killed the Reuters videographer Issam Abdullah and injured a number of other journalists from Al-Jazeera and Agence France Presse charged to cover events along the Lebanese-Israeli border. The initial statement issued by Reuters mourning Abdullah’s loss failed to mention who did it. Culpability, when offered at all, is almost invariably couched in terms so nebulous the blame barely congeals to its perpetrators. Reuters tried again with a headline hours later; it read, “Reuters journalist killed in Lebanon in missile fire from direction of Israel.” The wording bends over backwards to withhold the detail that matters most where death isn’t interpersonal but political. As causes for escalation mount, the erasure borders on absurdism. Without this information, the clock starts at retaliation; the Palestinians fire back, and suddenly the Western media regains the ability to make obvious inferences, to condemn specific actors in the clearest possible terms.
The Israelis, Reuters reported the day after Issam Abdallah’s killing, are “aware of the incident.” An army spokesperson announced, “we are looking into it. We already have visuals. We’re doing a cross examination. It’s a tragic thing.” They haven’t even bothered to change the script in over twenty years.
This round of US-sustained Israeli violence against and beyond Palestine is different only in degree. The occupying power has cut electricity and internet (and water and fuel and everything else) for two-and-a-quarter million people in Gaza. One Palestinian journalist, Motaz Azaiza, received a call in the early days of the carnage, from an unnamed Israeli threatening him to stay away from reporting. He refused, and when people tried to access his Instagram account on October 13, which has 2.7 million followers, they were met with “no posts yet.” Meta deleted the Instagram page of Al Quds Network, the most widely followed Palestinian news source on their platform. Azaiza and Plestia Alaqad and other journalists in Gaza have been forced to resort to alternative means of reporting. And as the number of trained journalists in circulation “dwindles,” Palestinian children are trying at the sober demeanor of journalists to help spread the word of their people’s well-organized extermination. Israel has prevented international journalists from entering Gaza.
Elsewhere in occupied Palestine, the Israelis interrupt Palestinian journalists on live air. In one clip from October 15, an Israeli policeman appears on screen, back to the camera, to interrogate reporter Ahmad Darawsheh from Al-Araby TV: “what are you saying?” Darawsheh responds, shrinking his voice, that he is reporting on the Israeli military. The policeman issues a threat: “you better be saying good things. All these Hamas should be slaughtered. Am I clear?” By the end, the policeman is shouting. He walks out of the frame then pivots, newly calm, and forces his face into the news camera, seemingly unable to keep this fascist thought to himself: “we’ll turn Gaza to dust.” When the policeman and his team are out of earshot, Darawsheh shares, “obviously, he [the policeman] is armed.”
The Israelis, whenever possible, aim for permanent censorship: since the start of the Israeli assault on Gaza almost three weeks ago, they have killed twenty-five journalists and injured eight others. Eight are missing or detained. (These numbers will have risen since the time of this writing.)
A journalist in Gaza, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told Mondoweiss on October 25 that “any person whose voice is being heard or is gaining international visibility is being made to pay the price…. You can feel the intense surveillance of anything coming out of Gaza. And if anyone says anything, even a phrase or a word, that Israel doesn’t want, [they] will be targeted and have their families targeted.”
Show me dots that are easier to connect: Axios breaks the story that US Secretary of State recently asked the Qataris to “tone down Al-Jazeera’s rhetoric,” concerned their reporting could “escalate tensions in the region.” Al-Jazeera is one of the few international news outlets reporting live from Gaza, and they are offering invaluable eyewitness coverage that contradicts the propaganda pushed by Israeli and American media. Hours after the Axios story comes out, the Israelis target the home of Al-Jazeera Bureau Chief Wael al-Dahdouh, killing his wife, son, daughter, and grandson.
Dahdouh was reporting live in Gaza when he got the news. He rushed with colleagues to the hospital where his family’s bodies were kept. “They are exacting their revenge through our children,” he said when he saw his dead son. Al-Jazeera released a statement condemning the “Israeli killing of journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh’s family.” Israel claimed it was targeting “terror infrastructure.” And the U.S. National Security Council spokesperson, who is, along with America’s entire media apparatus, working overtime to provide cover for Israel, said there was “zero evidence” the Israelis are targeting journalists at all. It is — and has always been — our eyes and words and bodies against their machines.
The purpose of Israeli attacks against journalists can’t change: integral to the foundation and maintenance of the Zionist project is manufactured consent for the “removal” of a people whose memory and very existence Israel considers an existential threat. After the targeting of videographer Issam Abdullah, a news anchor on Al-Mayadeen asked analysts invited on his show what Israel hoped to gain from this latest attack against journalists, in broad daylight, on Lebanese soil. One analyst responded in a tone that suggested the answer was self-evident: they aim to prevent the transmission of their crimes against us, and in killing those who transmit, to make an example out of them: “there will be unpleasant consequences if you dare to report against Israel.” It never works — at the news of the targeting of journalists, other journalists joined first responders along the Lebanese border to cover the aggression.
The analysts, all old enough to remember the Israeli invasion of Beirut, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the occupation of southern Lebanon and the July war and both Qana massacres, as well as the intifadas and numerous attacks on Gaza since 2007, exchanged memories of bombings of this and that press building across space and time. In 2006, one analyst reminded listeners, Israel bombed a certain pro-resistance press headquarters in Beirut with the intention of downing its broadcasting capability. It was only ever transient: within just a couple of minutes, the station was once again providing live coverage of the latest Israeli crimes committed against us. Another analyst advised pro-Palestinian media in the region to have infrastructure in place — in case their offices are targeted by Israel — so that coverage persists. The news anchor assured the analyst, his station had already prepared for that scenario.
Soon after they were martyred, Wael Al-Dahdouh led the funeral prayers for his family. Within twenty-four hours, he was back reporting live. His eyes and voice pulsing with grief, he thanked everyone who had extended their love, support, solidarity, and prayers in the aftermath of this colossal loss. Then he said, despite the pain and the still-bleeding wounds, that he felt obligated to return. “The more they want to silence us, the more I want to tell the story — to document the daily lives of a people under occupation.”
Palestinian Journalists killed since October 7:
Duaa Sharaf–a journalist (Radio Al-Aqsa), killed with her child when Israel targeted their home
Salma Mkhaimer—a freelance journalist; killed with her child
Mohammed Imad Labad–a journalist (Al Resalah news website)
Roshdi Sarraj–a journalist; co-founder of Ain Media
Mohammed Ali–a journalist (Al-Shabab Radio)
Khalil Abu Aathra–a videographer (Al-Aqsa TV)
Sameeh Al-Nady–a journalist; director of Al-Aqsa TV
Mohammad Balousha–a journalist; administrative and financial manager of Palestine Today Issam Bhar– a journalist (Al-Aqsa TV)
Abdulhadi Habib–a journalist (Al-Manara News Agency and HQ News Agency), killed with several members of his family after a targeted Israeli attack on his home
Yousef Maher Dawas–a contributing writer (Palestine Chronicle and We Are Not Numbers), killed when the Israelis targeted his family’s home.
Salam Mema– a freelance journalist; head of the Women Journalists Committee at the Palestinian Media Assembly, her body was recovered from the rubble three days after the Israelis targeted her home.
Husam Mubarak– a journalist (Al Aqsa Radio)
Issam Abdallah– a videographer (Reuters), killed in a targeted Israeli attack on journalists near the Lebanese-Israel border.
Ahmed Shehab–a journalist (Sowt Al-Asra Radio), killed with his wife and three children after Israel targeted their home Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar–a freelance photojournalist
Saeed al-Taweel– editor-in-chief (Al-Khamsa News website), killed after Israel targeted the Rimal District, an area with multiple media outlets
Mohammed Sobh–photographer (Khabar News Agency), killed in the Rimal district attack
Hisham Alnwajh– a journalist (Khabar News Agency), killed in the Rimal district airstrike
Assaad Shamlakh– a freelance journalist, was killed along with nine members of his family in an Israeli airstrike on their home
Mohammad Al-Salhi– a photojournalist (Fourth Authority news agency)
Mohammad Jarghoun– a journalist (Smart Media)
Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi– a photographer (Ain Media)
This is sheer evil. An evil that the US seems to approve of. We have to wonder if the journalists here in the American media, are just indifferent to what is happening to their fellow journalists, or if they knew the facts, and don’t really care? It was stunning to hear Scarborough once again take the side of the apartheid nation, and he was even outraged that nations had asked for a pause in the fighting. He questioned the need for a pause in the war, and asked what it was for. There was no need for any pause he said, and the rest of the zionist media around him did not say a word,
except Willie Geist of course, who reminded us all that Hamas was the cause of all this….no they did NOT refer to the ROOT CAUSE of this conflict, the brutal OCCUPATION, or the constant COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT. They sounded ignorant of facts. The UN and some nations wanted a pause in the fighting because they urgently needed water, food, and medical supplies to be taken in to Gaza, for those who are DYING without basic needs, especially medicines to save lives.
At this stage it is obvious, the indifference to the numbers killed, men, women, and over 3000 little children, shown by the White House, Congress, and the media, is because America has a record of killing, injuring, and displacing, brown skinned Muslim, and their lives are not worth their jobs or their paychecks, or most of all displeasing their masters for. They all have blood on their hands.
At the risk of sounding like Cato the Elder** the only way to cut this Gordian knot of death and destruction is for Biden to declare that the U.S. recognizes a Palestinian state, to be run by the U.N. and U.S. jointly. Biden could cover his political butt simply by saying that he’s taking the advice of Israel’s security elite.***
** who, at the end of every speech in the Roman senate declared “carthago delenda est” ( Carthage must be destroyed )
*** http://en.cis.org.il/