Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza marks its latest assault on the media and on reporters bravely bringing one of the most important stories of the time to the world. More than 200 media professionals have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza over the past 22 months; the figure is higher than those in the two World Wars and the Vietnam War combined. Killing journalists reporting on a conflict is a war crime. Even by the standards of Israel’s assault on journalism — it has also sought to punish reputed Israeli publications like Haaretz for reporting critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the latest assassinations represent a new low. Israel claimed that Anas al-Sharif, one of the journalists killed, was a Hamas member and released photos showing him with the group’s leaders. Yet there is no independent evidence that the slain scribe was an active member of Hamas. Photos of journalists with public figures — Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 — are not proof of anything beyond the fact that they have met. Israel has offered no explanation for its slaying of the four other journalists whom it does not even claim belong to Hamas.
In fact, Mr al-Sharif, who leaves a wife and two young children behind him, was no secretive military figure. He had been broadcasting publicly every day; his location was known to everyone. That Israel chose to kill him and his colleagues just as it is about to launch a major operation to seize control of Gaza City, threatening to displacing tens of thousands of people again, is bound to raise several questions: is Israel trying to eliminate those who might cover its upcoming assault? At a time when global outrage over the man-made famine Israel has thrust upon Gaza is growing, is the country’s military trying to cover up its excesses? But it is not just Israel that has questions to answer. The silence, by and large, of major Western news organisations over the murder of fellow journalists underscores the belief in many parts of the Global South that for all their avowed values and belief in rights, some lives matter more to them than others. For almost two years, as Israel has barred outside journalists from entering Gaza, Palestinian reporters have sacrificed everything — even their lives — to show the world what that besieged enclave has been subjected to. They deserve gratitude from the world and its news media, not betrayal.