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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

New video challenges Israeli explanation for killing Gaza journalists

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/19/gaza-journalists-killed-israel-al-jazeera-footage/ (paywall)

An investigation by The Washington Post is raising “critical questions” about Israeli justification for the killing of two journalists in Gaza in January.

Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, was killed in an Israeli missile attack in Khan Younis, along with another journalist Mustafa Thuraya and their driver. Two others were seriously wounded.

In a statement following the attack, the Israeli army said a military aircraft “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to [Israeli] troops”. It added, “We are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit.”

According to The Post, the journalists were operating a consumer model drone to capture footage of a building hit during Israeli bombardment. The video from Thuraya’s drone, obtained by The Post, showed no “Israeli soldiers, aircraft, or other military equipment” were visible.

The newspaper also interviewed witnesses and colleagues of the reporters, who provided detailed accounts.

“The Post found no indications that either man was operating as anything other than a journalist that day. Both passed through Israeli checkpoints on their way to the south early in the war. Dahdouh had recently been approved to leave Gaza, a rare privilege unlikely to have been granted to a known militant,” it said.



Shooting attack near illegal settlement

We’re getting reports of a suspected shooting attack near the Gush Etzion junction, close to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army says two members of its security forces were wounded in the shooting near Gush Etzion, while the suspect was “neutralised”.

Palestinian man killed during West Bank settler attack

A man who was seriously injured near the village of Yanoun by Israeli bullets during an attack by Israelis, from an illegal settlement, has died of his wounds, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian news agency Wafa report.

Fourty-year-old Fakher Basem Bani Jaber was shot in the back near the village, southeast of the city of Nablus. Medical sources told Wafa that he was transported to Rafidiya Hospital and declared dead.

Residents of the town said that several people responded to an attack by settlers, which was protected by the Israeli army, leading to the outbreak of gunfire during which Jaber sustained the injuries that led to his death.

According to the UN, nine Palestinians have been killed by settlers, and three by either Israeli forces or settlers, across the occupied West Bank since October 7. Jaber’s case is not included in this count.



Hezbollah attacks Israeli positions near Lebanese border

The Lebanese armed group says it struck Israeli positions at Baranit site in southern Lebanon. Fighters also targeted Israeli soldiers and a military logistical vehicle on al-Tayhat Hill by a guided missile, which the group said led to an unknown number of casualties.

Moreover, the group said it hit Israeli soldiers at the al-Malikiyah site in southern Lebanon with missiles.

Exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have largely remained confined to border regions, but several Israeli bombings on Lebanese territory have hit areas further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.



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Barozi said:
Amnesia said:

I am really impressed and full of doubts now...

On the Covid and Ukraine, my account was immediately suspended if I was not sharing the same view as the US Democrat parti.

And now, the Anti-Zionist position, which I share ofcourse, is tolerated...And is actually the OG post and main animator here.

I am completely blown away. I would have bet everything I possess, that such a position here would not be tolerated at all.

Haha last time I checked you were a big Orban supporter who also happens to be the biggest Israel supporter in Europe.

Every European leader sµck the d|ck of Israel and the Zionist leaders in all these countries, Hungary can not do much with what it has, it is a 9,8 millions people country, the 2nd largest European Jewish community is in Hungary. The country has no army and no strategic lever to oppose to anyone, yet it has been in the last decade one of the most anti Zionist country by the acts. Until 2012, Hungary was the last European country to still propose direct flights to Cis-Jordany, they have paid the price in losing forever their national company. They have been the most consistent country in Europe to oppose to the Globalist project (massive immigration, LGBT propaganda), which is a project led by Zionists leaders.

So you can still accuse Orban and Trump for their words to Israel, but in the meantime, it is the Democrat gov in charge which has concretely sent 3 aircraft carriers there to allow the massacre to happen, + the support in bombs delivery.

~Banned -Ryuu96

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 19 March 2024

Finally, Canada stops following the US. Petitions and writing elective representatives in numbers does pay off now and then. (And bringing a lawsuit against her)

Canada to cease arms exports to Israel

In comments to the Toronto Star, Canadian FM Mélanie Joly said the country will implement a non-binding resolution passed by Canadian lawmakers that calls for an end to “the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas”.

“It’s a real thing,” Joly told the Toronto Star, when asked about the move.

The Canadian Parliament said that its decision comes within the framework of Ottawa’s support for the ceasefire in Gaza, the release of detainees, the two-state solution and support for the decisions of the International Court of Justice in the case filed by South Africa against Israel on charges of genocide.

In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has said on X that this move “undermines Israel’s right to self-defense”. “History will judge Canada’s current action harshly. Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned home,” his post said.

Nah history will still condemn Canada for its flip flop non committal stance, but at least sees sense finally. Funding to UNWRA restored, no more arms exports. Now work harder on getting that ceasefire. Joly, next talk some sense into our Southern neighbors.



Meanwhile in Gaza, after Israel killed the police, now they're targeting tribes helping with aid delivery. Kuwait roundabout bombed again.

Tribal aid workers targeted in Gaza City, 23 killed

In the past hour, there has been a surge in attacks on the people of northern Gaza City. Israeli fighter jets targeted the Kuwait roundabout, the main food distribution site for the area.

A group of Palestinians responsible for aid supplies and deliveries was hit. These are local “popular committees” formed to coordinate various tribes in the humanitarian relief effort in northern Gaza, after complete chaos broke out because of the lack of food over the past few weeks.

They were working to ensure the safe distribution of desperately needed aid to UN centres. At least 23 were killed.

Hamas: Israel’s attacks on Gaza officials prove it seeks to disrupt truce negotiations

In a statement, Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’s political bureau, says that Israel’s strategy in attacking police officers and government officials in the Gaza Strip is to “spread chaos and perpetuate bloodshed”.

Yesterday, the Gaza Government Media Office said the Israeli military had “assassinated” General Fayeq al-Mabhouh, who was in charge of coordinating humanitarian aid going into northern Gaza with local tribes, as well as the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.

It said in a statement that the general was engaging in civilian humanitarian work when he was killed and should have, therefore, been protected under international law. “This also reflects the occupation leaders’ attempt to sabotage the negotiations taking place in Doha,” Haniyeh’s statement today continued.

“We affirm that all of this will not succeed in achieving this criminal plan, and the movement will remain committed to the rights of our people and their clear demands to stop the aggression, withdraw, and return the displaced.”


At least 15 killed in Israeli strike on Nuseirat

At least 15 people were killed by an Israeli air strike targeting a house in the al Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials told Reuters news agency. Medics said rescue operations were still under way as some victims were believed to be trapped under the rubble of the three-floor building.

Palestinian journalist Omar al-Dirawi uploaded video to his Instagram account, verified by Al Jazeera, that shows the arrival of those injured in the attack at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.


Israeli army targets car in Nuseirat, killing five

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip says that five people are dead, including at least one child, and others wounded after the Israeli army bombed a car in front of an office of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza refuge camp.

The Palestinian Shehab news agency reports that the target of the raid was Nuseirat Police Director Mahmoud Al-Bayoumi, who died in the attack along with the other occupants of the car.



‘Denied or postponed’: Israel continues to thwart UN aid deliveries

Less than half of the planned aid missions into northern Gaza were allowed in by Israeli authorities so far in March, the United Nations says. “That’s 11 out of 24 missions. The rest were either denied or postponed,” Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said.

“Convoys are frequently turned back even after long waits at the Gaza checkpoint. They also run the risk of aid being taken by desperate people, either at the checkpoint or along the difficult route north.

“The only way to prevent this is to ensure that enough aid can be delivered on a reliable basis. We need the Israeli military to guarantee safe, sustained and unhindered aid across Gaza, and to open up all possible entry points into Gaza,” said Haq.


Displaced Palestinians queue to receive food donated by a charity in Rafah

Entire Gaza population now 100 percent severely food insecure

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted Gaza’s deteriorating food situation where hundreds of thousands of people face famine.

“According to the most respected measure of these things, 100 percent of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That’s the first time an entire population has been so classified,” said Blinken during an official visit to the Philippines.

“We also see, according to the United Nations, 100 percent the totality of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. Compare that to Sudan; about 80 percent of the population there is in need of humanitarian assistance; Afghanistan, about 70 percent.”

‘Unimpeded’ access of food, medical supplies needed for Gaza: World Bank

The bank has called for “urgent action” to deal with the hunger crisis in Gaza.

“We join the international community in calling for immediate, free, and unimpeded access of medical supplies, food and life-essential services through all available means at speed and scale to the people of Gaza,” it said in a statement.




How can Israel’s genocidal war be allowed to continue?

Gaza faces famine as Israel’s assault continues using mostly Western-supplied weapons. It’s killed almost 32,000 people and wounded 74,000. People now face starvation and disease. International pressure has been little more than words.

What can stop Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s genocidal war? How much time is left for the people of Gaza?




Trump is getting worse day by day, he needs to be in prison.

Schumer slams Trump criticism of his Israel speech as ‘unadulterated antisemitism’

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/politics/schumer-slams-trump-criticism-israel-speech/index.html

Trump was asked on a podcast hosted by his former White House aide Sebastian Gorka about criticism from the Biden administration and Schumer’s comments criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I actually think they hate Israel,” Trump said in the interview, which aired Monday. “I don’t think they hate him, I think they hate Israel. And the Democrat Party hates Israel.”

Trump directly slammed Schumer, who recently criticized Netanyahu’s government and called for new elections in a speech on the Senate floor about Israel’s war on Hamas and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Don’t forget, when you see those Palestinian marches, even I, I’m amazed at how many people are in those marches. And guys like Schumer see that, and to him it’s votes, I think it’s votes more than anything else, because he was always pro-Israel. He’s very anti-Israel now,” Trump said.



Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized former President Donald Trump’s response to the New York Democrat’s speech on Israel, noting that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s remarks were “sick,” and “hateful,” and included antisemitic tropes.


“The former president’s comments were utterly disgusting and a textbook example of the kind of antisemitism facing Jews, pushing the dangerous antisemitism trope of dual loyalty,” Schumer said Tuesday.

The highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States continued, “To say you hate Israel or your religion because you have one political view over the other is sick. It’s hateful, it is unadulterated antisemitism, and it serves to use Israel as a political wedge further damaging the bonds between US and Israel.”

Trump says any Jewish person who votes for Democrats ‘hates their religion’ and ‘everything about Israel’

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/trump-antisemitic-jewish-people-israel-support-netanyahu/index.html

Former President Donald Trump said in an interview aired Monday that any Jewish person who votes for Democrats “hates their religion” and hates “everything about Israel,” again playing into an antisemitic trope that Jewish Americans have dual loyalties to the US and to Israel.

“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” Trump said. “They hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”


President Joe Biden’s administration and presidential campaign both responded quickly to Trump’s comments Monday.

Trump’s campaign remained defiant over the remarks Tuesday morning, with a spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, saying in a statement, “President Trump is right — the Democrat Party has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist cabal.”

Trump has long played into antisemitic tropes, lashing out at Jewish Americans he says don’t support him enough. During his first campaign for president, Trump delivered a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition that was rife with antisemitic stereotypes, and shortly after he left office in 2021, he told reporters that Jewish Americans have turned their back on Israel.

A year later, he said American Jews weren’t praising his administration’s policies toward Israel enough: “Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.” And last year, during celebrations of the Jewish New Year, Trump shared a social media post that said liberal Jews who did not support him “voted to destroy America & Israel.”


Jewish Americans have for decades been a largely Democratic and politically liberal constituency, identifying with Democrats over Republicans by a wide margin, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey. While Orthodox Jews lean heavily Republican, American Jews of other denominations, including the Reform and Conservative branches, have identified with or leaned toward the Democratic party.



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Pro-Israel online influencing operation has been targeting UNRWA: Report

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/19/pro-israel-online-influencing-operation-has-been-targeting-unrwa-report

An online influencing operation using fake social media accounts has targeted the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which cited a new report from a disinformation watchdog.

Fake Reporter, an Israeli group that studies online disinformation, found that the accounts echoed Israeli government accusations about links between the UN agency and Hamas, spreading them in comments on social media websites.

As described by Haaretz, the report – released in Hebrew – said the influencing campaign relied on a network of hundreds of social media accounts, as well as three newly created “news websites”, to promote pro-Israel narratives.

But in recent weeks, the influence campaign has focused its efforts on UNRWA, an agency that supports Palestinian refugees.


The shills are active on You tube as well. Every new video critical of Israel quickly gets a bunch of the same pro Israel, anti Palestinian comments, by the same accounts. They don't last very long though, quickly drop to the bottom.


Talking of You Tube



Increasing numbers of newborns in Gaza on brink of death, WHO warns

Dr Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), has said that increasing numbers of children in Gaza are on the “brink of death” from acute hunger.

“What doctors and medical staff are telling us is more and more they are seeing the effects of starvation; they’re seeing newborn babies simply dying because they [are] too low birth weight,” Harris told reporters in Geneva.

“Increasingly, we’re seeing children that are at the point, brink of death that need re-feeding,” she said.

Medical teams in Gaza have also been admitting increasing numbers of dangerously underweight pregnant women, she said, the kind of complications that happen “if you’re trying to carry a pregnancy and you lack the nutrition,” she said, adding that the hunger crisis in Gaza was purely a result of war and “entirely man-made”.



Thousands of pairs of shoes were lined up in a public square in Utrecht in the Netherlands as a tribute to the more than 13,000 children killed in Israel’s war on Gaza.


Women, children wounded in Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp

We’ve been reporting on an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed at least 27 people and wounded many more.

The injured were taken to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.


An injured Palestinian woman walks in the emergency area in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah on March 19


Israeli attack on a family home in Gaza City kills 15 people

Israeli forces have kept up a relentless campaign of attacks on Gaza City, flattening homes and killing dozens of people.

One such attack on Tuesday destroyed a house owned by the Miqbil family, killing 15 people and trapping many others under the rubble.

“This is my brother’s house. Unfortunately, women, children and the neighbours were struck here. They were peaceful people, sleeping after their last meal before fasting,” said a relative of the owner of the house.




US Congress deal to ban UNRWA funding until March 2025: Report

An agreement between US congressional leaders and the White House on a bill funding military, State Department and other government programmes will continue to block UNRWA funding until March 2025, the Reuters news agency reports, citing two unnamed sources.

The sources familiar with the agreement said alternative efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza would be discussed after the legislation is made public, Reuters reported.


US senator says Canada ‘absolutely right’ to stop arms sales to Israel

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders has hailed Canada’s parliament for voting to halt arms sales to Israel, saying the US should follow suit and “not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine”.

“They are absolutely right to do so. Given the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, including widespread and growing starvation,” he wrote in a post on X.

Earlier we reported that Canadian FM, Mélanie Joly, said her government will implement a non-binding resolution calling for an end to the “further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime”.



He said, she said, although the IDF gets caught in lies all the time...

Hamas denies Israel’s claim its fighters were killed at al-Shifa

Hamas has rejected Israel’s claim that its forces “eliminated terrorists and located weapons in the hospital area” of the al-Shifa Medical Complex during its raid that began on Monday.

Israel military said in a statement that it killed about 90 “terrorists” at the hospital “while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment”. It also published the names and photographs of two Israeli soldiers killed in the operation.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office, told Reuters news agency all of those killed had been wounded patients and displaced persons inside the hospital.

“The Israeli occupation army practices lying and deception in spreading its narrative as part of justifying its continuous and law-breaking crimes, which violate international law, international humanitarian law,” he said.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim, who has previously served as a health minister, told Reuters that “what happens in al-Shifa Hospital is a war crime and is part of the war of genocide conducted by the Israeli occupation”.


WHO records more than 400 attacks on Gaza healthcare facilities

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has documented 410 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza since October 7. “Attacks have resulted in 685 fatalities, 902 injuries, damage to 99 facilities and affected 104 ambulances,” the UN agency said on X.

Nearly 40 percent of the attacks were in Gaza City, followed by 23 percent in North Gaza and 28 percent in Khan Younis in the south. “Health care is not a target. WHO calls for the respect of international law and active protection of civilians and health care,” the organisation said.



Bodies of al-Shifa evacuees still lying on the streets

This brutal war is in its sixth month and two days ago we have seen the attack on the al-Shifa Hospital, where dozens have been killed and others were forced to evacuate amid intense shelling.

The shelling has not stopped since yesterday it has been ongoing. Many were killed in the streets while fleeing and their bodies are still there.

Funeral prayers for victims of Israeli attack on aid distribution team





More than 100 aid workers killed in 1 week in Gaza: Gov’t

More than 100 aid workers have been killed and dozens wounded over the past week in eight attacks carried out by Israeli forces, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.

The media office said in a statement the targeting of aid workers was part of Israel’s strategy to “perpetuate the policy of starvation and deepen famine on a broader scale”.

It expressed strong condemnation of Israel’s “terrorism” and its “genocidal war” as well as “America’s and some Western countries’ alignment with the occupation and involvement in the war” and called on the international community to intervene to stop “the massacre against our Palestinian people.”

The aftermath of Israeli strikes on Gaza City






Gaza death toll rises to 31,923

The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll from Israeli attacks since October 7 has risen to 31,923 with 74,096 people wounded.

In the past 24 hours, at least 104 Palestinians were killed and 162 injured.



The Houthis are effective

Israel’s Eilat port faces layoffs amid Red Sea shipping crisis: Union

Half of the workers at Israel’s Eilat port are at risk of losing their jobs due to the crisis in Red Sea shipping lanes, according to Israel’s main labour federation. Eilat sits on a northern tip of the Red Sea and was one of the first ports to be affected as shipping firms rerouted vessels to avoid attacks by the Houthis.

The Histadrut labour federation, the umbrella organisation for hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, said port management has announced it intends to fire half of the 120 employees. The dock workers will hold a protest on Wednesday, it said.



Al Jazeera investigation reveals new details about October 7

In an investigation called October 7, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) reveals widespread human rights abuses by Hamas and other fighters, but it also shows how many of the worst stories that came out in the days after the attacks in southern Israel were false.

The I-Unit examined seven hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones and headcams of dead Hamas fighters. It reviewed the testimonies of hundreds of survivors, military personnel and first responders, drawing up a comprehensive list of the dead.

The investigation also found that many claims after the attack were untrue, including about a house in the Be’eri kibbutz, where the Israeli army said eight babies were killed. The list of the dead reveals there were no babies there and, in fact, the 12 Israelis who died were almost certainly killed by Israeli ground forces.

October 7 is a deep dive into a bloody day that has led to the killings of tens of thousands of people, the significance of which will reverberate for decades. Watch it below:




ABC union staff call for content chief’s resignation over dismissal of journalist

The Australian trade union for media said staff of public broadcaster ABC have demanded the resignation of the head of content, Chris Oliver-Taylor, over his alleged role in the dismissal of journalist Antoinette Lattouf – reportedly over sharing a human rights report on Gaza – in January.

The statement by the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance added that a staff vote of no-confidence was cast for Managing Director David Anderson over his role in the incident and their lack of confidence was extended to all managers involved in the decision to “unfairly dismiss” Lattouf.

It also said the staff was “outraged” over new evidence and revelations on the incident, the disregard shown by ABC executives for the broadcaster’s independence and Oliver-Taylor’s “mismanagement” that undermined the ABC’s integrity.

The statement urged Oliver-Taylor to step down immediately and urged Anderson to demonstrate that he is taking concerns of staff seriously to restore confidence.


Israeli forces arrest another Al Jazeera journalist from al-Shifa Hospital

Israeli forces have arrested Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Eliwa from inside the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, as part of its campaign against journalists covering its raids into the hospital.

Eliwa has been covering the daily killings and bombings carried out by Israel in Gaza, the most recent of which was the targeting of civilians who were waiting for aid at the Nabulsi and Kuwait roundabouts.

Since launching its fourth attack on al-Shifa Hospital on Monday, Israeli forces have killed dozens of people and arrested hundreds. Ismail al-Ghoul, another Al Jazeera journalist, was beaten severely, stripped naked, and detained with other journalists for 12 hours before he was released.




Attacks on Aid seekers and convoys are getting more frequent

Israel’s attacks on aid convoys and officials: A timeline

Israeli forces have once again attacked aid seekers at the Kuwait Roundabout in the northern part of Gaza City, killing at least 24 people. The killings come as the besieged and bombarded Gaza faces a mounting humanitarian crisis after months of Israeli attacks have pushed hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine.

Here is a list of some of the attacks on aid seekers, convoys and officials responsible for coordination by Israel since the war started:

March 19: An Israeli air attack killed Raed al-Banna, the director of police investigations in northern Gaza, who was responsible for securing and facilitating the entry of aid trucks into northern Gaza.
March 18: Another air strike killed General Fayeq al-Mabhouh, who was in charge of coordinating aid going into northern Gaza with local tribes and the UNRWA.
March 14: More than a dozen people killed and some 100 injured after Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers in Gaza City.
March 3: At least nine people killed in an Israeli strike on an aid distribution truck in Deir el-Balah.
February 29: At least 118 people killed and hundreds wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on people waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City.
February 26: Ten people were reportedly killed when Israeli forces shelled and fired on a crowd waiting for food aid trucks in Gaza City.
January 25: An Israeli attack killed at least 20 people waiting for humanitarian assistance in Gaza City.
December 29: Israeli soldiers fired on an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated as safe by the Israeli army.




Questions mount over Israel’s killing of journalists covering the war on Hamas

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/20/media/israel-journalists-killed-questions/index.html

The Israeli military is evading questions and calls for accountability over the killing of journalists tasked with covering the country’s brutal and protracted war with Hamas.

Since the October 7 terrorist attacks, at least 95 journalists — 90 of whom are Palestinian — have been killed in the region, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has been tracking the mounting death toll. The non-profit said it is the deadliest conflict for journalists it has recorded since it started collecting data in 1992.

But Israel Defense Forces has rarely provided specific answers about the circumstances that have led to the killing of journalists. Instead, the IDF has issued vague statements that reiterate their forces do not intentionally target journalists or that the matter is under investigation.


A Press helmet is placed over the grave of Hamza Dahdouh, a Palestinian journalist who worked for Al Jazeera and was killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah.

However, with journalists facing extraordinary danger in the field as they attempt to bear witness to the ugly war on behalf of the world, such statements are insufficient. And, over the past week, a pair of new reports have raised significant questions for the IDF about two separate instances that led to the killing of journalists.

The United Nations finalized a report last week about the killing of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon, concluding that the attack was from an Israeli tank that had fired at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists,” a violation of international law. CNN also reported, based on video from the scene, that the journalists were wearing body armor clearly labeled “PRESS.”

In response to the U.N. report, the IDF said it “does not deliberately shoot at civilians, including journalists.” And it reiterated its support for a free press. But Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni has demanded Israel more thoroughly explain its actions and hold those responsible accountable. So far, that has yet to occur.


A funeral ceremony is held for Palestine TV correspondent Mohammed Abu Hatab, was killed, along with his family members, in an airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 03, 2023.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post published a report raising serious questions about a separate attack, a January 7 missile strike that claimed the lives of two Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers. The IDF initially said that it “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops.”

But the aircraft in question was a consumer-grade drone, The WaPo reported. And the newspaper obtained and reviewed the footage taken from the drone, which it posted in its entirety online, which revealed “no Israeli soldiers, aircraft or other military equipment” were visible. The WaPo, which spoke to 14 witnesses and colleagues of the slain journalists, also asked two analysts to review satellite imagery covering a 1.2 mile radius of the area, which was captured on the day of the attack. Neither expert saw evidence of military activity and it is unclear how the drone ever posed a “threat” to IDF personnel.

When The WaPo asked the IDF about its findings, however, a spokesperson would only say, “We have nothing more to add.”


Journalists, relatives and friends pray over the body Journalists Sari Mansour and Hassouna Esleem after they were killed in an Israeli bombardment of Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2023.

Outside such lethal incidents, the Israeli military has also come under increased scrutiny for its general treatment of journalists in the region.

Al Jazeera said Monday that IDF forces detained one of its correspondents, Ismail al-Ghoul, for 12 hours before releasing him. The Qatari-funded network said in a blistering statement that al-Ghoul was reporting from Al-Shifa Hospital when he was arrested by Israeli forces, “severely beaten” and detained with other journalists. When the reporter was released, he accused Israeli forces of destroying his broadcast equipment and subjecting other members of the press to appalling conditions.

“He said the journalists were stripped of their clothes and forced to lie on their stomachs as they were blindfolded and their hands tied,” Al Jazeera reported. “Israeli soldiers would open fire to scare them if there was any movement, al-Ghoul said.”

On Tuesday morning, after checking in with the IDF multiple times, I finally received a comment from a military spokesperson.

“We are not aware of the detention of a man named Ismail Al-Ghoul,” the IDF spokesperson said.

When I asked the IDF spokesperson whether they would acknowledge having detained any journalists at the hospital, I received a statement that did not answer the question. I asked again if the IDF detained journalists but received no reply.


Flowers and candles are placed among pictures of journalists at a vigil in lower Manhattan on November 6, 2023, in New York City. The vigil is held to remember and celebrate the lives of journalists killed in recent fighting in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.

“Attacks on journalists are also attacks on truth,” underscored an open letter signed last month by three dozen news leaders, including the heads of CNN, the Associated Press, The New York Times, and BBC News.

Journalists are dying in record numbers covering the war. And with each death, the world sees a little less from the war-torn region. It is incumbent on Israel, which is responsible for the conduct of its military forces, to fully explain its actions when a member of the press is killed.

So far, however, the IDF has been less than forthcoming.


Less than forthcoming is an understatement, ignoring the lies to cover up and cast doubt on these killings. Fool me once shame on you, fool me a hundred times, you're an idiot. When will the Western media finally take the gloves of and stop covering for the IDF. Is it so hard to write, the IDF lied about the circumstances of the attack. I guess CNN coverage still has to pass the IDF censor...