“Only the person who has experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.” – ― Stefan Zweig
Throughout wars and even in the calmest situations, journalists, especially independent ones, have always been the target of their governments and their cadres.
In this war, which is not a war but a genocide against the people of Gaza, journalists have been hit the hardest.
The Israeli defense entity, the “most moral army in the world,” targeted Shirin Abu Akleh in the West Bank long before October 7th.
At 7:04 AM on May 11, 2022, Shireen, working for Al Jazeera, was fatally injured after being shot by Israeli Defense Forces while covering their incursion and raid on the Jenin camp.
After her death, Israel prevented the display of Abu Akleh’s pictures in the old city of Jerusalem. Her brother, Tony Abu Akleh, stated that authorities prohibited the Palestinian flag from being shown inside the family home. Shirin was a Christian/ Palestinian. She was no “terrorist” or hiding in hospitals or schools. She was out there, reporting the truth. Until today, no one has been held accountable for her death. Israel has not punished any of the shooters.
It is business as usual. “Sorry, it was a mistake” as they state every time.
They didn’t shoot her in the body, but they shot her in the neck to kill her. She was reporting in the West Bank, not in Gaza.
Then October 7th happened, and the carnage started. No journalist or health care worker was left immune. Those who were targeted mainly worked for Al Jazeera, but the recent casualties worked for Reuters and the Associated Press.
No journalists from the main news organizations have been allowed to enter Gaza. The “only democracy in the Middle East” forbids it. No Western media outlets have been able to report on Gaza.
Russia, Iran, Turkey, and China have also incarcerated journalists. In central Moscow, the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment. She had opposed the second war in Chechen and was a critic of Vladimir Putin.
During the Yugoslave wars of 1990’s, at least 25 journalists were killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Kosovo, 37 journalists and media workers lost their lives.
In Iran, scores of journalists have rotted in jail. Many have been given long prison sentences, but no journalist has been targeted in such a way as in Gaza, that is, shot at and killed on purpose.
It is as if their press credentials are like a death sentence for them.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), as of August 10th of this year, at least 192 journalists, 184 of them Palestinians, have been killed by Israel.
The world stays silent or makes a few comments about this carnage. Journalists are the voice of the people who have no voice, yet they are silenced by drones, guns or shrapnel. They all had families, children, wives
Hussam al-Masri, was a Reuters journalist killed by Israeli fire while operating a live video feed at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital. He would tell his colleagues, “Tomorrow will be better.” In one of his videos, he said, “I was happy here with my family-a beautiful family, full of love and affection. we were all happy here and now the house that sheltered us is gone.” He was forty-nine years old.
Israel is now a pariah state which kills journalists, health care workers, all under the guise of killing Hamas fighters. How many terrorists are there in Gaza? Are all people in Gaza terrorists?
Photo by Jana Shnipelson on Unsplash
One of the ministers of Netanyahu said recently we must kill 50 Palestinians in Gaza for every Israeli killed on October 7th.
According to all estimates more than sixty thousand Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. The number is much higher as many are still under the rubble.
Even by the Israeli military’s own estimates, more than 80 percent bombed to pieces were civilians.
When will Israel stop this carnage? When will this war machine stop the killing of children? Or stop murdering brave journalists?
When two million plus Palestinians are ethnically cleansed from Gaza?
The children of Holocaust survivors are speaking out and the Holocaust victims are turning in their graves.
They say, stop killing the innocent. Stop targeting journalists.
© 2025 All Rights Reserved