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March 29, 2024
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EditorialKilling of journalist in West Bank

Killing of journalist in West Bank

The recent murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at the hands of the Israeli forces show that the bully state, backed by the West, can go to any length without any fear to silence journalists, civil society activists and the commoners, who demand rights for Palestinians and raise voice against Israeli atrocities. The Al Jazeera journalist was killed in a targeted shooting by Israeli sniper fire when she was covering Israeli forces’ raids in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, a territory under Israeli control. The Israeli forces also shot at and injured another Palestinian journalist Ali Sammoudi at the scene. Shame. The journalists were targeted in broad daylight, in the full view of their colleagues and cameras, and it can be seen in videos that the deceased and injured journalists are wearing a helmet and ‘PRESS’ vest.

This is not the first or last time that the Zionist state has targeted journalists. The occupation state has killed 46 Palestinian journalists on job between 2000 and 2020. Besides them, several foreign journalists were also killed by IDF personnel. Even the funeral procession of Shireen was attacked and her coffin was desecrated by the Israeli forces. Their only crime is to document Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories of Palestine against Palestinians. Despite journalists’ valuable work, which they do by risking their lives, the world hardly condemns the Israeli forces and government. Even the western media tries to cover up the murders of Palestinians through obfuscation in the stories. Without fearing any backlash from the world, Itamar Ben Gvir, the extremist Israeli MP, urged Israeli soldiers to shoot with impunity coming in their way even if there were journalists from Al-Jazeera. Never in the worst times, we have seen attacks on funeral processions, but the Israeli forces assaulted the people accompanying the coffin and at one point. It is time the world openly condemned the relentless brutality of Israeli forces and went beyond stating customary statements regarding the establishment of two states. We have yet to hear any statement condemning the Israeli actions from the Gulf states, which recently normalised diplomatic relations with Israel. The world has shown its double standard in the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict. May God help Palestine!

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