“These are…the words of every single one here, standing here after 459 days of the most well-documented and first live-streamed genocide in history. For these days, we’ve been reporting tirelessly, extensively, and thoroughly on this genocide…. We never stopped—to tell you the truth, to narrate our stories, and to tell you that we are being genocided, to move your dead consciences to help a population that has seen every sort of torture and tasted every type of death.”
~ Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, 22 years old
This week, we honor the heroic members of the Palestinian press corps, who have courageously continued to tell the world the truth about the Gaza genocide in the face of daunting challenges, not least of which is the unprecedented number of journalists among their own ranks killed in Israel’s attacks. In 2023 alone, almost three out of four journalists killed worldwide were Palestinians killed post-October 7.
In its assessment this month of the Palestinian journalist casualties, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—an independent nonprofit that defends journalists’ right “to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal”—describes the conflict as “the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.” Al Jazeeera agrees: “Simply put, this has been the worst conflict for journalists—ever.”
The deliberate targeting of journalists, who are civilians, is a war crime. CPJ’s research unequivocally confirms a subset of the Palestinian journalist killings as murders, and the organization is investigating numerous other deaths for “possible targeting.” There are also many first-hand accounts from Palestinian reporters of deliberate targeting, even when wearing “Press” vests and traveling in vehicles marked as such. On December 26, 2024, an Israeli attack in central Gaza on a broadcast van displaying “press” in large red lettering killed five Palestinian journalists who were covering events at a nearby refugee camp hospital.
CPJ has noted multiple challenges in its ability to investigate the circumstances of the Gaza-related journalist deaths, including:
- The large number of deaths in a short time
- The concurrent killing of family members and colleagues who might otherwise provide information
- The Israeli military’s denial that they are targeting the press
Under the circumstances, it is hard to pin down the exact number of Palestinian journalists and media workers who have been killed since Oct. 7. CPJ puts the number at “at least 166” but lists another 126 who have been reported injured, missing, or arrested, along with many other as-yet unconfirmed reports of journalists “killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened” as well as damage to media offices and journalists’ homes.
British journalist Owen Jones has also cast a critical eye on another important part of the equation—Western journalists’ cowardice and complicity in the genocide. Jones wrote the Drop Site News article about the BBC’s biased Gaza coverage discussed by Catherine and John Titus on Money & Markets on Jan. 9. In another recent post on Substack, Jones writes that the speech by the remarkable young Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed (see below) “should trigger an overwhelming sense of shame amongst Western journalists.” Instead, Jones comments,
“[T]he Western media outlets…have legitimised Israel’s war crimes, …have failed to frame their coverage around the explicitly and repeatedly stated genocidal intent of Israeli leaders, …have airbrushed atrocities, failed to hold their governments [to] account for their criminal complicity—and failed to even show a modicum of solidarity for the Palestinian journalists who have suffered the biggest slaughter of media workers in the history of human civilisation as they risk their lives every single day to bring the world the depraved, hideous truth of what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people.”
All of us ignore the Gaza genocide at our peril, for, as Catherine has been at pains to explain, “Gaza Is a Method.”
This week, as we recognize the brave efforts of the Palestinian press corps members and pray for their safety, we should also remember the legal and historical significance of journalist killings. As CPJ says,
“Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”
Related by the Committee to Protect Journalists:
Journalist Casualties in the Israel-Gaza War
No Justice for Journalists Targeted by Israel Despite Strong Evidence of War Crime
Israel-Gaza War Brings 2023 Journalist Killings to Devastating High
Related by Owen Jones:
Western Journalists Must Be Held to Account for Complicity in Genocide
Other Related Links:
Know Their Names: Palestinian Journalists Killed by Israel in Gaza
Israel Hits Broadcast Van Killing Five Palestinian Journalists in Gaza
Killing of Journalists in the Israel-Hamas War (Wikipedia)
Related at the Solari Report:
Money & Markets Report: January 9, 2025 – “Meet the New Boss”
Money & Markets Report: August 15, 2024 – “Gaza Is a Method”
Netanyahu’s Mass Atrocity Machinery: What Will You Do?
Hero of the Week: November 11, 2024: Ron Unz
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