Silence over the massacres committed by Israel against journalists is dangerous for everyone The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

A press release issued by the Israeli army on December 26 attempted to justify a war crime. She shamelessly admitted that the occupation forces burned five Palestinian journalists inside a clearly marked press car in front of Al Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The five victims are: Ibrahim Sheikh Ali, Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Muhammad Al-Ladaa, Fadi Hassouna, and Ayman Al-Jadi. Ayman had arrived at the hospital with his wife, who was about to give birth to their first child. He was visiting his colleagues in the car when it was hit. His child was born several hours later and now bears the name of his father, who was not allowed to live long enough to celebrate his birth.

The Israeli army statement claimed that the five Palestinians were “activists posing as journalists” and were spreading “combat propaganda” because they worked for the Al-Quds Today channel, affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. The Israeli army did not claim that they actually carried weapons or participated in any armed action.

Many Western newspapers quoted the Israeli army’s statement as if it were an objective position and not propaganda to whitewash a war crime. They have failed to make clear to their audiences that attacking journalists, including journalists who may be accused of promoting “propaganda,” is a war crime; All journalists are protected under international humanitarian law, regardless of whether armies like their reporting.

Article 79 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions states that all journalists “engaged in dangerous professional tasks in areas of armed conflict shall be considered civilians… (and) shall enjoy protection (…) without prejudice to the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces.”

In complete disregard for these provisions of international law, the Israeli army has been killing Palestinian journalists over the past fifteen months. According to the Gaza government media office, 201 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Other statistics indicate that The number is at 217.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, about 138 Palestinian journalists were killed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank between October 7, 2023 and December 31, 2024. The organization counted the five victims of the Israeli army attack. On December 26 in the toll.

The Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders described Israel’s killing of journalists as an “unprecedented bloodbath” and described Palestine as “the most dangerous country for journalists.” The Committee to Protect Journalists also included Israel among its list of “top jailers of journalists.”

Not only does Israel refuse to recognize any protected Palestinian media worker, it also prevents foreign journalists from entering Gaza.

It is truly disturbing that the international media has done little to protest this ban. With the exception of one petition signed by 60 media outlets over the summer, international media did not follow up on these demands consistently over a period of 15 months.

If a major media organization is not allowed access to a particular site, a reference to this ban is often attached to news reports as a form of protest. But in the case of Gaza, Israel gets a pass, especially by the mainstream Western media, where Israeli press releases are regularly passed off as facts.

This complacency has allowed Israel to control the narrative and propagate its claim that this is a defensive war carried out by the “most moral army” in the world within the parameters of international law.

While UN experts, some Israeli NGOs like B’Tselem, and every major international human rights organization have condemned Israel’s actions, the legacy media continues to give it the benefit of the doubt. In the rare cases in which Western media outlets, such as The New York Times As has happened recently, the results overwhelmingly echo reports published by Arab media and some left-wing Israeli media months ago, showing serious crimes being committed.

One of the reasons we have reached the point where Israel, the self-proclaimed “only democracy in the Middle East,” is killing journalists with impunity, is that it has never been held accountable for its gradual intensification of violence against media workers throughout these years. .

The assassination of Palestinian-American reporter Sherine Abu Uqla in Jenin in 2022 is an example of this. Despite Western media coverage and investigations into her killing, Israel was still allowed to get away with claiming that the crime was a “bad apple” and that the soldier responsible would be held accountable. It wasn’t.

What our foreign colleagues must understand is that Israel’s quest to normalize the mass killing of journalists does not only threaten Palestinian media workers. If such abhorrent behavior is normalized in war zones, no journalist, no matter what passport they hold, will be safe.

It is time for the international media community to stop making excuses for Israel and call its actions war crimes. It is time for journalists around the world to stand in solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues and demand accountability for those who slaughtered them. It is time to demand that their governments take action that leads to direct sanctions on Israel.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.