Israel’s War Claims More Journalists Than WWII and Vietnam Combined

Robert Inlakesh, Mint Press, October 31st, 2024

Israel’s War Claims More Journalists Than WWII and Vietnam Combined

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Despite Israel's actions leading to more than two-and-a-half times the number of journalists killed in Gaza this past year compared to those lost across all of World War II, its reasoning for targeting media—which breaches journalists’ civilian protections outlined in Article 79 of the Geneva Conventions, Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, and customary IHL as set by the ICRC—continues to receive acceptance in Western media outlets.

Israel has recently escalated its suppression of press freedom. On October 23, the Israeli military labeled six Al-Jazeera journalists stationed in northern Gaza as "terrorists" with connections to Hamas or PIJ. Israel followed this by releasing a document identifying the journalists as combatants but provided no supporting evidence, and the document contains apparent inconsistencies.

Al-Jazeera promptly refuted the claims, joined by journalist advocacy groups that condemned Israel’s documents as falsified. The CPJ also commented, highlighting that the document released by the Israeli military closely resembles one from earlier this year after a targeted strike killed Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, who was traveling in a clearly marked press vehicle.

The CPJ noted discrepancies in the document tying al-Ghoul to Hamas, pointing out that it included “contradictory information showing that [al-Ghoul], born in 1997, received a Hamas military ranking in 2007—when he would have been 10 years old.” The organization added that Israel has “repeatedly made similar unsubstantiated claims without presenting credible evidence.”

Since May, Israel has prohibited Al-Jazeera from reporting within its borders, followed by a raid on the network’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah. During this operation, soldiers reportedly looted the offices and seized equipment, even though the area is under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.

Israel’s history of using disinformation to justify strikes on Al-Jazeera spans years. In May 2021, Israeli forces destroyed Gaza City’s al-Jalaa Tower, which housed Al-Jazeera, the Associated Press, and Middle East Eye, claiming that Hamas operatives were using the building as a shield and journalists as human shields.

Following widespread criticism, Israel offered varied explanations. Initially, officials asserted the building contained electronic warfare equipment to jam Israeli smart bombs. Later, they informed the AP that Hamas agents were using the site to target Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

Israeli intelligence sources later told Haaretz that they were unaware the al-Jalaa Tower hosted media outlets until after the strike—a statement widely regarded as implausible, given AP’s decade-long presence there. Haaretz’s report also disclosed that the strike was part of Israel’s deliberate strategy to project a victorious image. Despite calls from Reporters Without Borders for a war crimes inquiry, Israel has yet to provide evidence for its claims.

The 2022 killing of veteran Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh sparked further international attention. Despite multiple witnesses recounting the Palestinian-American’s killing in Jenin Refugee Camp, then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claimed that “based on our gathered information, it appears likely that armed Palestinians—who were firing indiscriminately at the time—caused the journalist’s tragic death.”

Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz also stated, “We have seen footage of indiscriminate shooting by Palestinian terrorists, which is likely to have struck the journalist,” adding that Israel’s preliminary investigation indicated no Israeli fire was directed toward Abu Akleh at that time. However, within 24 hours, B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, disproved the footage cited by Gantz, and a CNN investigation later suggested that Israeli forces had directly targeted the journalists.

Shireen Abu Akleh is one of at least 20 journalists killed by Israeli forces over the last twenty years, a “deadly pattern” marked by the lack of charges or accountability. This ongoing absence of justice is part of why the CPJ currently ranks Israel just below Haiti on its 2024 Impunity Index, which lists countries where journalist killings are most likely to go unpunished. Israel was only added to this index last year.

While Al-Jazeera is central to Israel’s actions against journalism, it is not the only network affected. Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen News became the first network banned during the Gaza conflict in November 2023. Last week, Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on an Al-Mayadeen office in Beirut, followed by an attack on a media complex in the southern Lebanese town of Hasbaya, resulting in the deaths of three Lebanese journalists.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed over 180 Palestinian journalists in Gaza and at least seven in Lebanon. Among those killed was Reuters visual journalist Issam Abdullah, who died on October 13 at age 37. Initially, Israel blamed Hezbollah for his death, asserting that the group was firing in the area at the time.

Reuters initially reported Abdullah’s death without directly implicating Israel, though it mentioned that he had been “killed in Lebanon by missile fire from Israel’s direction.” It wasn’t until December that Reuters’ internal investigation confirmed that the Israeli military was responsible for Abdullah’s death.

A later UN report echoed this finding, stating that Abdullah, who was “clearly identifiable” as a journalist, had been killed by Israeli fire. In response, an Israeli military spokesperson revised their earlier account, claiming that Israeli forces had returned fire after a Hezbollah assault and subsequently received reports of journalist casualties. To date, no one has been held accountable for his death.

During World War II, 69 journalists were killed while covering the conflict, and 63 were killed over two decades of the Vietnam War. In comparison, Israel has killed more journalists in just over a year than both of these wars combined, making this conflict the deadliest for journalists in recorded history.

Feature photo | Journalists, relatives, and friends pray over the bodies of journalists Sari Mansour and Hassouna Esleem after they were killed in an Israeli bombing of Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on November 19, 2023. Majdi Fathi | AP

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist, and documentary filmmaker based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show Palestine Files. He directed Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

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