Jihadists Like Journalists

Yesterday, Israel hit two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media in the center of Gaza City, prompting condemnation from the International Press Institute:

“Journalists are never a legitimate target, either for violent attack or restrictions on freedom of movement,” IPI deputy director Anthony Mills said.

“We remind Israel and Hamas that journalists covering conflict have a right to do their job without being targeted, regardless of the political affiliation of the media houses they work for,” he said.

..as well as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders:

Both the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, and Reporters Without Borders, or RWB, sounded alarms over the Israel Defense Forces’ deliberate targeting of two media centers in Gaza City Sunday during the continuing Hamas-Israel confrontation.

“Journalists are civilians and are protected under international law in military conflict,” Robert Mahoney, New York-based CPJ’s deputy director, said in a statement. “Israel knows this and should cease targeting facilities housing media organizations and journalists immediately.”

Along the same line, Christophe Deloire, Paris-based RWB’s secretary-general, said in a separate statement: “These attacks constitute obstruction of freedom of information. We remind the Israeli authorities that, under humanitarian law, the news media enjoy the same protection as civilians and cannot be regarded as military targets.”

Deloire added: “We call for a transparent investigation into the circumstances of these airstrikes. Attacks on civilian targets are war crimes and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. Those responsible must be identified.”

Pan to today:

An Israeli airstrike hit a Gaza building used by a number of local and foreign news organizations on Monday afternoon. Three top Islamic Jihad operative were killed.

Islamic Jihad sent a text message to reporters saying that Ramez Harb was killed in the strike Monday. The IDF spokesperson said four others — Baha Abu al Ata, Tyseer Mahmud Machmad Jaberi and Halil Baatini — used the building for hiding.

Harb was a leading figure in the Islamic Jihad’s militant wing, the Al Quds Brigades.

Witnesses said the strike hit a high-rise in downtown Gaza City which houses a few offices serving foreign correspondents.

Thick black smoke rose from the building Monday as ambulances rushed to the scene. Reports said as many as four people were killed.

The strike on the building was the second one in the past two days. The Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, is located on the top floor.

This should tell you two main things:

1. The terrorists are using journalists as human shields. Duh.

2. Don’t rush to conclusions after an IAF strike that ostensibly looks unreasonable, because in some cases, the truth will come out

Update: Vindicated!

12 thoughts on “Jihadists Like Journalists”

  1. The relationship is more symbiotic than hostage-captor. The government should flip the bird to these arbiters of information and tell them in no uncertain terms that their rights end when they refuse to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

  2. Unlike the West Bank, Israel’s response to Hamas in Gaza seems so absolutely right and just there should be no ambiguity at all. There does seem to be a willful mistreatment of the facts on the ground by some in the media. Contrast this with an observation I heard over the weekend from a Palestinian academic (sorry, I forget his name) regarding the situation in the West Bank. He pointed out that the West Bank was like a pizza where two very hungry people are trying to decide how to divide it up, while one party is busily gobbling down the whole thing.

    1. “He pointed out that the West Bank was like a pizza where two very hungry people are trying to decide how to divide it up, while one party is busily gobbling down the whole thing.”

      The two people are not hungry at all, in fact they have over 20 pizzas, most of them larger than Judea and Samaria; they’re only pretending to be hungry so as to justify to the world their plan to steal the pizza from the one truly hungry man it actually belongs to.

      If you’re just quoting, then it’s nothing against you, but on principle I resent anyone saying the Jewish State must get smaller. I also think Israel should be the judge of what’s right and not right when it comes to her regional affairs. No state has been so relentlessly told what its rights and limits are as the state of the Jews.

      1. The reason I brought it up is to contrast Gaza with the West Bank. Just as Clinton pointed out in his deposition during the Monica Lewinsky mess, that it depends on what the meaning of “is” is, whether the Jewish State gets smaller or larger depends very much on what the borders of that state are recognized to be. For most people in the world and in Israel itself, that is not yet a settled question.

        1. Alright, I wasn’t pointing a finger at you. (Not this time, anyhow…) It’s just that for the past few days my patience with what “the world” thinks about Israel has grown a lot thinner.

    2. It’s the Arabs who are gobbling down the whole thing, in places building in every possible spot they can, even if no-one lives in the building. We really should stop them.

      In other words, he is lying.

    3. The main difference is that in Gaza they are free to be honest about it, abd in the west bank, they have tsken the spin doctor approach. They are of exactly the same ilk. When the rockets are flying into Israel, the Palestenians in east Jerusalem are cheering like they’re fireworks, and when the murderers from WEST BANK murdered the Fogel family including decapitating a baby, they gave out sweets in Gaza. Abbas says one thing to the media in English and another in Arabic. The piece if cheese or pizza trope is old, and gets rolled out over and over. It was in that debate with Peter Beirnhart a few months ago. Israel has pulled out of Sinai and Gaza and will do again if necessary. At no point does building inside areas where large Israeli populations already live, and which Israel may or may not negotiate in the future, justify targeting for murder any part of Israeli population. Ever. And that’s ignoring that one of the conditions they won’t drop is the right of return! This trope is as reasonable as the disproportionate response theory.

      1. People lie to gain an expected advantage, even Palestinians and Israelis. I’m not saying that this is right or reflects good character, just a reality we all have to live with. But at least Fatah SAYS they recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel SAYS they want a negotiated two-state solution with a party that they recognize as the sole legitimate govt. of the Palestinian people. That’s what both sides SAY. This is a far better place to be than the one in Gaza.

        1. Respectfully, I disagree. Israel SAYS they will negotiate with the only party they recognize, because that could in fact lead to a workable solution. That is, Israel first and foremost wants peace, but a workable peace, and an enduring peace, with secure borders. It seems that that is such a pipe dream that they are saying it just to appease the US and co, but they have put their actions where their mouth is so many times, that it beggars belief. Abbas has several problems: he doesn’t know whom he represents, certainly not Hamas, nor does he control Hamas, he hasn’t accepted any previous proposals, and then is surprised when a better deal is not on the table; he cannot give any assurances for peaceful co-existence to Israel; he doesn’t condemn the violence and instead of at least conceding that the violence is an obstacle to peace, they are still going on about settlements being an obstacle to peace. What is really shameful, is neither Hamas or Fatah have any regard for their own people living within Israel, working, studying, voting, thriving. Even people like that disgraceful Tibi, who would happily see Israel be destroyed. Are these 1.5 million people ghosts? Do they not run to the same shelters as other Israelis?
          In some ways Fatah are more dangerous – if Hamas attacks openly, Fatah will stab us in the back.

  3. “Journalists are never a legitimate target, either for violent attack or restrictions on freedom of movement”

    Anyone who gives aid and comfort to Israel’s enemies is a legitimate target for the state of Israel. That includes those who call themselves journalists.

    The media will learn to toe Israel’s line or keep silent. There are a lot of years of anti-Israel bias for the media to atone for, and atone for it they will, by being forced by a truly Jewish State in the future to trumpet a pro-Israel line.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top