Stop killing journalists, Mr Netanyahu
Israel’s constant targeting of journalists and Gaza offensive to silence truth continued as it bombed the main hospital in southern Gaza on August 25 again killing at least 20 people, including five journalists.
Earlier this month, the Israeli airstrike on a tent used by media near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City had killed five Al-Jazeera staff and two freelancers which had been the single deadliest attack since the Israel-Gaza war began in 1992.
The “targeted assassination” was “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Meanwhile, UN Human Rights Office OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territory) says it has verified the killing of 227 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The UN office also says Israeli attacks had killed 18 journalists in May 2025 alone. International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has described this as ‘journacide’.
Israel has long been accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof. “Israel is murdering the messengers,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah. “They’ve wiped out an entire news crew. That’s murder.”
Anas al-Sharif, who was among those killed on August 10, had been one of Al Jazeera’s best-known reporters in Gaza since October 2023, and was the “only voice” for the world to know what was happening in the Gaza Strip. He was one of several journalists whom Israel had previously alleged were members of Hamas, without providing any evidence.
There is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they Hamas terrorists.
Directing attacks against protected persons such as journalists is a violation of international law and also constitutes a war crime. The apparent targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, combined with Israel’s denial of access of foreign journalists to Gaza for over 18 months, except a few visits controlled by IDF, indicates a deliberate attempt by Israel to limit the flow of information to and from Gaza and prevent reporting on the impact of its attacks and denial of humanitarian assistance.
Cartoon by Suparno Chaudhuri
Remember Mr Netanyahu, you may unleash lethal force and keep killing journalists, but you won’t be able to destroy fearless journalism. Journalists will keep enduring deadly risks of reporting and truth will prevail.
Irish writer Oscar Wilde had said: “In America, the president reigns for four years, but journalism governs forever and ever.”
Meanwhile, Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling book Sapiens, and the eminent Israeli historian and now a high-profile political activist in his home country, has opposed Netanyahu’s right-wing populist coalition. He also attacked the indifference of some American and European progressives to Hamas atrocities, and accused them of ‘extreme moral insensitivity’ and betraying left wing politics. He expressed dismay with “elements within the global left…until now our political partners” who had, on occasions, “justified Hamas’ actions”.
Harari has said he believes “the idea that Israel should just destroy Gaza is unacceptable….the only solution will come when not only is Hamas disarmed, but the Palestinian people have some kind of alternative future.”
Famous journalists who were brutally murdered:
Daniel Pearl (1963-2002), an American journalist who worked for The Wall Street Journal, was beheaded by jihadists in Pakistan in 2002.
James Foley (1973-2014), an American journalist and a freelance war correspondent, was abducted in Syria and decapitated by ISIS in 2014.
Steven Sotloff (1983-2014), an American-Israeli journalist, was kidnapped in Aleppo, Syria and beheaded by ISIS in 2014.
