Israeli Air Strike Kills Al Jazeera Journalists in Gaza
Six journalists, including five Al-Jazira journalists, were killed in a targeted bombing in Gaza after Israel denounced one of Hamas’ ties.
JERUSALEM, Aug. 12 (Reuters) – The growing will among Israeli news media to critically explore Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has almost evaporated in recent weeks after extremist group Hamas released videos of two debilitated Israeli hostages.
In late July, as the image of a hungry Gazan sparked international protest, some Israeli press and broadcasters began reporting on worsening conditions that encouraged more robust aid response.
Channel 12’s major news anchor Yonit Levi branded Gaza’s humanitarian crisis as “moral failures,” captivated several universities and heads of the National Holocaust Memorials with the government.
Israeli media has focused primarily on the 22-month war of Israeli trauma and its impact on Israeli people on October 7, 2023, with around 1,200 people killed and 251 being held hostage, according to Israeli tally. Reports focus on the fate of hostages and victims suffered by Israeli forces.
Some Israelis welcomed some of Levi’s comments and reports discussing the conditions of Gaza as evidence that they were ready to examine the effects of the war on Palestinian civilians.
However, Israeli moods froze dramatically on July 31 as Hamas cried and in pain during a video of Rom Braslavsky, a 21-year-old skeletal hostage, on 31 July. Three days later, a video continued from 24-year-old Eviyatar David.
The video was designed to show the terrible impact of Gaza’s limited aid flow, which Palestinian sources said.
Amidst Hamas’ international denunciations, thousands of protesters took them to the streets of Israel and demanded the immediate return of hostages. Around 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only about 20 of them are thought to be still alive.
Uli Dagon, deputy editor of Israel Hayom, Israel’s most widely distributed newspaper, said that the Israelis “have no capacity to experience pain on the other side” as hostages are being held in Hamas, Gaza.
“I know it sounds terrible, but that’s true,” he said.
Dagon accused foreign media of falling into a “false campaign” about Gaza’s starvation. His paper had published articles on the suffering there, but Hamas emphasized that he was responsible. He questioned why the foreign outlets who published photos of the debilitated Gazan did not give the same salient image of Eviator David.
“I would suggest reviewing the senior editors of the international press themselves, then discussing how the Israeli press is behaving,” Dagon said.
The denial of starvation
Polls in the wake of Oct. 7 that showed most Palestinians approved of the attack sowed anger in Israel.
Harlel Kolev, a senior researcher at the Moshedayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, who specializes in the media and Palestinian society, said such incidents made it difficult for many Israelis to feel sympathy for the people of Gaza.
International media, forbidden by Israel to enter Gaza, relies on Palestinian journalists, but many Israelis have little faith in their reporting. Some cite Gaza’s lack of freedom of press under Hamas’ authoritarian rule.
“I don’t think there’s hunger in Gaza,” said Orit Maimon, 28, a Tel Aviv lawyer. “I don’t think the situation there is ideal or very good, but I don’t think there is hunger.”
The Gaza Ministry of Health says 222 people have died of starvation and malnutrition since the war began.
Right-wing Channel 14 has devoted its coverage in recent weeks to trust some reports of hungry children. Some Israeli stores responded to anger when the child appeared in the homepage photo of the UK Daily Express newspaper.
A poll released this month by the Israeli Institute for Democracy, a Jerusalem-based think tank, found that 78% of Jewish Israeli believe Israel is making great efforts to avoid Palestinian suffering, but that Israel believes it can choose more.
Israeli attacks have been reporting dangerously in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 230 journalists in Gaza since November, according to the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate, a professional organization. Reuters was unable to independently verify these figures.
Israel denied intentionally targeting journalists, saying that many of the people killed were members of extremist groups working in the guise of the press.
On Sunday, Israeli forces said they killed an Al Jazeera journalist in an airstrike. It accused 28-year-old Anas al-Sharif of being the leader of Hamas cell. Al-Sharif refused the charges Israel made before he was killed, and rights advocates said Al-Sharif was the target of his report.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military campaigns, according to Gaza Health Authority
Criticism of the government
Polls conducted during the war showed that around 70% of Israeli people wanted to enter into a contract to free hostages.
Several Israeli media have criticized the Netanyahu government for not bringing hostages home or declaring a clear plan for post-conflict Gaza. Among the most outspoken critics is the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, which also publishes considerable reports of Gaza’s suffering, including research works on military operations there.
In November, Netanyahu’s cabinet includes far-right ultranationalists – banning officials talking to Harletz and boycotting government ads and accusing them of supporting “the enemy of the nation during the war.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the story.
The Netanyahu pastor also criticised his Likud Party spokesman for criticizing him for damaging the morale of Israelis, and his Likud Party spokesman has submitted a proposal to privatize Channel 11, a public broadcaster. Some media experts have warned that this could have a calm impact on government media coverage.
ASA Shapira, head of marketing and advertising research at Tel Aviv University, said government actions will affect what Israeli channels have decided to show.
The editorial decision to focus on the fate of Israeli hostages was a response to public concerns, but also threatened to attract government disapproval, he said.
(Additional report by Mikal Jaakov Itzhaki of Jerusalem by Nidal Al Mugravi of Cairo, written by Michael George, edited by Daniel Flynn)
