Silence about Israeli massacres of journalists is dangerous for everyone Israeli-Palestinian conflict

A December 26 press release by the Israeli military attempted to justify the war crime. He unashamedly admitted that the army burned five Palestinian journalists in a clearly marked press vehicle in front of al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

The five victims were Ibrahim Sheikh Ali, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan, Mohammed al-Ladaa, Fadi Hassouna and Ayman al-Gedi. Ayman arrived at the hospital with his wife who was about to give birth to their first baby; he was visiting colleagues in the vehicle when it was hit. His baby boy was born a few hours later and now bears the name of his father who was not allowed to live long enough to celebrate his birth.

An Israeli military statement claimed the five Palestinians were “operatives posing as journalists” and were spreading “combat propaganda” because they worked for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, which is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. The Israeli army has not claimed that they actually carry weapons or that they are involved in any armed action.

Many Western publications quoted the Israeli army’s statement as if it were an objective position and not a war crime propaganda. They failed to explain to their audience that attacking journalists, including journalists who could be accused of promoting “propaganda”, is a war crime; all journalists are protected by international humanitarian law, whether the military likes their reports or not.

Article 79 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions states that all journalists “engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered civilians… [and] they will be protected […] without questioning the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces”.

In complete disregard of these provisions of international law, the Israeli army has embarked on a killing spree of Palestinian journalists over the past 15 months. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, 201 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Other figures say number 217.

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

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders described Israel’s killing of journalists as “unprecedented bloodshed” and Palestine as “the most dangerous country for journalists”. CPJ also cited Israel as one of the top “jailers of journalists.”

Israel not only refuses to recognize any Palestinian media worker as protected, but also denies foreign journalists entry into Gaza.

It is truly disturbing that the international media has done little to protest this ban. Apart from one petition signed by 60 media houses during the summer, international media have not consistently followed up on such requests over 15 months.

If a major media organization is not granted access to a particular location, an indication of this ban is often attached to news reports as a form of protest. However, in the case of Gaza, Israel is given a pass, especially by the mainstream Western media, with Israeli press releases regularly passed off as fact.

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

While United Nations experts, some Israeli NGOs such as B’Tselem and a growing number of international human rights organizations have condemned Israel’s actions, the legacy media continues to condemn it. In the rare cases when Western media investigated Israeli claims, as The The New York Times recently, the findings largely echoed reports that Arab and some leftist Israeli media had published months earlier, outlining the grave crimes that had been committed.

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

The assassination of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in 2022 is an example of this. Although there was reporting and investigation by the Western media into her murder, Israel was still allowed to get off the hook by claiming that it was the work of a “bad apple” and that the soldier responsible would be held accountable. He wasn’t.

What our foreign colleagues should understand is that Israel’s effort to normalize mass murders of journalists threatens not only Palestinian media workers. If such heinous behavior is normalized in war zones, then no journalist, no matter what passport they carry, would be safe.

It’s time for the international media community to stop making excuses for Israel and call its actions what they are: war crimes. It is time for journalists around the world to stand in solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues and demand accountability for those who massacred them. It is time for them to demand action from their governments that will result in direct sanctions against Israel.

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