https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...m-darkest-hourOriginally Posted by the other bob wilson
As the world witnesses the horrors unfolding in Gaza, a related tragedy continues with chilling regularity: the systematic targeting and killing of journalists. Just as the Gaza journalistic community thought matters could not get any worse, Benjamin Netanyahu’s brutal occupying forces carried out yet another cold-blooded murder on Sunday, this time of the Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with videographers Ibrahim Thaher, Mohammed Nofal and their colleagues. They were sheltering in a media tent near al-Shifa hospital, and were killed by a direct strike.
The Israeli war machine, accelerating its stated goal of occupying Gaza, showed no restraint in targeting journalists, in violation of international conventions. So far in this war it has killed 238 of us. The war on Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers in living memory, with 2024 recording the highest number of journalists killed, the vast majority at the hands of Israeli forces. The systematic targeting and elimination of journalists is not merely a local or regional tragedy; it is a catastrophic breach of international norms regarding the protection of journalists in conflict zones, signalling a global collapse of the moral responsibility in safeguarding those who risk everything to shed light on the realities of war.
Gaza is not the only place where journalists are under siege. Threats, intimidation and murderous violence against journalists are on the rise. However, what differentiates Israeli crimes is the impunity with which the occupation forces murder journalists and the indifference shown by leaders of the so-called free world. What is especially shocking is when some media organisations repeat the Israeli regime’s false allegations against targeted journalists without verification.
By any measure, it is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in recent history. Reporters are threatened, harassed and killed merely for fulfilling their public duty of bearing witness and reporting the truth. Worldwide, the dangers faced by journalists in conflict zones have intensified. In 2023, a journalist or media worker was killed, on average, every four days. In 2024, this grim statistic worsened to once every three days, most of those by Israeli forces. The journalists in Gaza are not parachuted-in international correspondents but local journalists – those who know the land, the people and the stories best. These journalists are not just reporting on Gaza’s tragedy; they are living it.
This surge in violence against journalists is neither accidental nor isolated. It is part of a broader, deeply worrying trend: the systematic silencing of the media, often orchestrated by autocrats and regimes who seek to conceal their crimes in darkness. This should horrify us all. It is an assault not only on individual reporters but on the entire global public’s right to know, to understand the depth of human suffering, and to hold the powerful to account.
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