“The press is not safe from Israeli targeting,” this is evidenced by the reality of the situation in Gaza, which is exposed for the sixth consecutive day to a war that affects everything, even the headquarters of international news agencies and the offices of local Arab and international television networks that have not been spared from the bombing, most notably the Al-Jazeera Media Network.
Israeli air strikes turned the 12-storey Al-Galaa Tower in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, which houses the Al-Jazeera network office, the American Associated Press, and a number of other press offices, into a relic of the past, turning it into a mere "pile of rubble." For a time, one of the addresses for exporting the truth to the world.
Hide the truth
Sami Abu Salem, a Palestinian journalist working for foreign media, was on the date of the targeting of the evacuation tower, so he looked directly on the English-language Al-Jazeera channel, telling Al-Jazeera, "The occupation destroyed the tower and prevented me from transmitting the truth message."
Abu Salem believes that the Israeli targeting of the high-rise towers in Gaza, from which the media are based, to convey a clearer picture of what is going on on the ground, is an attempt by the occupation to conceal the truth, and he said, "Israel is the enemy of the truth."
He emphasized that the continued targeting of the towers and their overthrowing would strongly limit the emergence of a clear picture showing the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, as these towers include the offices of major Arab and foreign media outlets, and companies providing Internet services, which these towers represent suitable places for them in terms of geography and technology. To better direct its work.
Abu Salem does not hide his fear of a dangerous Israeli escalation that it plans to implement and paves the way for it by targeting journalists in the field, and destroying press and media offices, in order to prevent the image from getting out into the world.
To this end, since the outbreak of the war, Israel has prevented foreign journalists from entering Gaza, which makes Abu Salem and the Gaza journalists suspicious of the coming days.
And the destruction of the Al-Galaa Tower, which was attached to 3 other towers that were destroyed during the current raging war, cut Internet services to a large number of press offices and residential homes.
Abu Salem says that he and other journalists used to resort to friends in the tower to work from their offices, which have electricity and internet services around the clock, as they are equipped with generators in light of a stifling electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip, and by destroying the tower, Israel would have robbed them of one of the important work options and tools.
Image assassination
The head of the Palestinian Institute for Communication and Development, Fathi Sabbah, shares Abu Salem's same fear, and tells Al-Jazeera Net that this targeting, imposing a tight cordon on Gaza and preventing the entry of foreign journalists, indicates the possibility of a dangerous escalation that Israel is preparing for, and wants to "isolate" Gaza away from "eyes" Cameras "that monitor her crimes.
Sabbah added that Israel's efforts to "assassinate the truth" and limit the ability of the press to transmit it have never stopped.
However, he shows great confidence in the ability of journalists to continue their lofty message, and in his opinion, the attacks they are exposed to by targeting them physically in the field, and destroying their offices may impede the transmission of the truth.
But you won't stop it.
Sabbah gave an example on Al-Jazeera, where he used to follow the course of events through it while he was speaking to us on the phone, and said, "In these moments, despite the destruction of its headquarters in Gaza a little while ago, Al-Jazeera is still operating at full capacity, dividing its screen into 6 sections, and transmitting developments from all places, including Gaza".
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Silence is a crime
In light of the seriousness of what Gaza has been exposed to over the past six days, including Israel's removal of immunity from journalists and the media, and placing them in a "circle of targeting," Sabbah believes that "silence in this case is a crime."
He said that the United States gives Israel the cover to kill whoever it wants and destroy whatever it wants, by preventing the convening of sessions of the UN Security Council to discuss what is going on in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, and is content with demanding "a reduction in the level of violence," and not demanding the aggressor, which is Israel, to stop his aggression.
What is required, according to Abu Salem, is to exert real pressure on Israel to allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, to boycott the Israeli narrative, and to move legally in the international arena to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes against Palestinian journalists and civilians.
The head of the International Organization for Supporting the Rights of the Palestinian People, Lawyer Salah Abd Al-Aty, described the targeting of journalists and media offices as a "war crime", inconsistent with the Hague and Geneva conventions and the laws to protect journalists.
He told Al-Jazeera Net that the occupation is deliberately in a clear and scandalous attempt to hide its crimes by preventing or reducing the honest media coverage that strikes against the false narrative that Israel exports to the world.
Abd al-Ati believes that the time has come to hold Israel accountable, chase it internationally, expel it from the membership of the International Federation of Journalists, and the need to pressure the high signatories of the Geneva Conventions to provide international protection for Palestinian journalists and civilians.