Shireen Abu Akleh Is Not the First: The Dark Record of Sniping Journalists by the Israeli Occupation Bullets
Despite emphasizing the 1949 Geneva International Convention for the Protection of Civilians in Military Conflicts, on the need to respect journalists and protect them from any deliberate attack, the Israeli occupation continues tirelessly to abuse and kill them in cold blood, to prevent its criminal practices from being exposed.
For the same goal and in the same way, on May 11, 2022, Israeli snipers assassinated the famous Palestinian journalist and Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, during her coverage of the storming of Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank.
The journalist who exposed the crimes of the occupation for nearly a quarter of a century was targeted, with a direct shot to the head, which killed her instantly, and her colleague, journalist Ali al-Samoudi, was wounded in the same place.
Long List
Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, is the last name in a long list of journalists who were killed by the occupation forces, according to the report of the International Federation of Journalists issued on July 05, 2021, the Israeli occupation killed 46 journalists and media professionals from 2000 to 2021.
That period witnessed great events from the second Al-Aqsa Intifada to the repeated aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip, as well as the many incursions into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the neighboring Palestinian neighborhoods.
The statement of the Union of Journalists described the killings by the occupation authorities as systematic and organized targeting, aimed at covering up the crimes committed by those forces against the Palestinians.
The report referred to the Gaza war, which lasted for 11 days during the year 2020, at which time "Israel" killed 16 journalists without supervision or accountability.
Palestinian journalist and photographer Yasser Murtaja, 31, is considered one of the most famous victims of "Israel" in recent years, as he was hit by lethal bullets from the occupation while doing his work on the Gaza Strip borders on April 06, 2018.
Paradoxically, the manner of Shireen Abu Akleh's killing is completely similar to what happened to Murtaja, both of whom were wearing a jacket bearing the words ‘press’, and both were targeted by direct sniping by an Israeli occupation soldier.
Commenting on the announcement of Shireen's assassination, IFJ Secretary-General Anthony Bellanger said: “The targeting of journalist Abu Akleh to prevent her from exposing the reality of the Israeli operation in Jenin.”
In a statement, the IFJ announced its intention to refer the case of the Palestinian journalist's killing to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Everyone Is Targeted
On July 8, 2014, "Israel" launched a brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip, at that time, the occupation forces bombed populated civilian areas, including al-Shuja’iya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, which led to the killing of several journalists, including Abdullah Murtaja.
A few days later, "Israel" killed the Italian journalist for the American Associated Press, Simone Camelli, along with Palestinian journalist Ali Shehda Abu Afash, after a missile exploded that killed them in the northern Gaza Strip on August 25, 2014.
At the time, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) accused "Israel" of deliberately escalating its attacks on journalists and the media in particular in Gaza, and denounced the international inability to protect them by international institutions, especially the United Nations.
On August 28, 2014, Mada Center for Media Freedoms in Ramallah issued a report that monitors the situation of journalists inside the occupied territories, and their exposure to various forms of attacks, most notably: Killing, wounding, destroying their homes, destroying media headquarters, disrupting the local media, and penetrating their waves to broadcast inciting messages against the Palestinian people.
The Center monitored the targeting of 49 media institutions by bombing during 2014 only.
“In 2009, during the aggression on Gaza, 4 journalists were killed. In 2012, 3 journalists were killed. In 2014, about 17 journalists were killed, including the famous media activist Najla el-Hajj,” the Center stated.
Processions of Victims
As for the most prominent journalists who were assassinated by the Israeli occupation army since the beginning of the third millennium, they were headed by Aziz Youssef al-Tanh, who was killed in 2000 by a bullet in the head fired by the Israeli occupation soldiers in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
In 2001, the photographer of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper, the correspondent of Islam Online, Mohammed al-Bishawi, and the correspondent of the Kuwait News Agency, Othman Al-Qatani, were killed after Israeli helicopters bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian Center for Studies and Media in the city of Nablus in the West Bank.
During the coverage of the Israeli aggression in 2002 on Ramallah and al-Bireh, journalist Jamil Nawara was killed; on the same day, journalist Ahmed Noaman, director of the local Bethlehem TV, was killed during an Israeli unit attack on Bethlehem Governorate.
In 2003, when the Israeli police were storming the Old City of Jerusalem, they shot a Palestine TV and Associated Press cameraman, Nazih Adel Darwaza, killing him directly.
In 2008, a photographer for the British Reuters news agency, Fadel Sobhi Shana'a, was killed after being wounded in an Israeli artillery shelling that was targeting him while he was filming one of the massacres of the occupation in the Gaza Strip.
During a missile strike by an Israeli warplane on the car of the Al-Aqsa TV channel in the Gaza Strip in 2012, the two photographers, Hussam Salama and Mahmoud al-Koumi were killed.
Also, 3 photojournalists: Muhammad Daher, Rami Rayan, and Sameh al-Arian were killed in artillery shelling by the occupation army on a market in Gaza while covering the events in 2014.
At the same time, Abdullah Fadel Murtaja, a cameraman and correspondent for Al-Aqsa TV channel and Al-Nibras Media Company, was killed after being targeted during artillery shelling by the occupation forces, while covering media in al-Shuja’iya neighborhood, which was under continuous and restless bombardment during the aggression.
All of them were joined by Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who said in a recent recorded film: “Perhaps it is not easy to change reality, but at least I was able to convey this voice to the world. I am Shireen Abu Akleh.”
Killing the Palestinian Cause
Commenting on this development, human rights researcher Mustafa Ezzedine Fouad confirmed in a statement to Al-Estiklal that “the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is a shame, and international public opinion must mobilize against the occupying state.”
“It is a crime no less despicable than the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. If the first was killed stealthily and treacherously inside his country's consulate, the second was executed on the ground in full view of everyone,” he said.
“In accordance with Security Council Resolution 1738, the intentional attack on journalists, media workers, and individuals associated with them during wars and conflicts are condemned. The resolution also guarantees the equality of the safety and security of all journalists in areas of unrest, just like civilians,” he added.
“The shocking thing about Shireen’s killing is that it is a full-fledged crime, and it is similar to field executions. She is a journalist dressed in a press uniform. She was not killed in an indiscriminate shelling, but was deliberately shot by a sniper,” he explained.
“They knew that she was doing her job and that she had no weapon other than her voice and her conveyance of the truth, so they silenced her just as they silenced dozens of others,” he said.
The human rights researcher also condemned the lack of international position regarding the incident, and said: “Let us imagine that this journalist was killed while covering the events in Ukraine at the hands of the Russians. What would have happened at that time? She would have turned into a global icon,” noting at the same time that “she had already become a symbol of The Arab press and the Palestinian struggle.”
On his part, Palestinian political analyst Dr. Nasser al-Swyr said: “The occupation has not failed throughout its dark history in Palestine to target the free Palestinian voice, represented by the press and the media, who were a strong and solid bridge that conveyed the truth to the whole world, and sacrificed their lives, many of them were martyred, and others were seriously injured.”
He added to Al-Estiklal, “The main aim behind this is to obliterate the truth with them. Therefore, the aim of the Israeli occupation’s cold-blooded assassination of hundreds of journalists, and the media personality, Shireen Abu Akleh, is to kill the cause, and accordingly, the crime against the Palestinian press was not the first, and it will not be the last.”
“I think that the Palestinian journalist, just like the guerrilla, is working with the aim that he will be martyred in the field of giving. Therefore, every journalist working now on the lines of contact with the enemy is a martyrdom project,” he continued.
“The killing of Abu Akleh and colleagues who preceded her will not dissuade Palestinian journalists from exposing Zionist crimes against our people everywhere, and will not break the Palestinian media, which the world bears witness to as the media most subjected to persecution and brutal practices,” Dr. al-Swyr confirms.
“The world that bears double standards and weeps bitterly over what is happening in Ukraine, should pay attention to the rights of the Palestinian people and the crimes of the occupier against them. But because journalist Shireen is Palestinian, we did not find a country or major international institution condemning this heinous act in the way it deserves. This silence has brought the enemy to this stage of criminality and authoritarianism,” he said.
Dr. al-Swyr concluded by saying: “In light of this unjust global regime and brutal aggression, I call upon the international organizations concerned with the media and the press to intervene to protect all Palestinian journalists.”
