Anas al-Sharif
The assassination of Anas al-Sharif and his Al Jazeera team is unconscionable and must be condemned.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has confirmed that the killing of the four journalists was a targeted operation. It accused al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell. The claims have not been corroborated by any legitimate source. The Committee to Protect Journalists noted this week: “Israel has a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof.”
More than 190 members of the media have now been killed in the war in Gaza that has raged for nearly two years. It is, without a doubt, one of the worst assaults on the media in the 21st century.
The number of sources usually willing to rationalise that fact has drastically shrunk. Even many of the Western media outlets that previously sympathised with the IDF’s mission have been unable to reconcile the brazen brutality of the murder of Al-Sharif and his colleagues.
Even US President Donald Trump admitted last week that Gaza faces “real starvation” — happily contradicting the counterclaims of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (although Trump remains a supporter, of course). Germany, which has been vocal in its support of Israel, has since curbed arm exports to the country.
On Wednesday, football association Uefa displayed a banner, “Stop killing children, stop killing civilians”. It was an about-face in response to criticism of its handling of the death of Palestinian footballer Suleiman al-Obeid, but it can’t be overstated how unprecedented the statement is for an ostensibly apolitical organisation to make.
But these developments leave two questions to consider. First, is this the threshold of pain and suffering that must be passed before a tragedy is no longer defensible?
The bombs have fallen on the innocents indiscriminately from the beginning of the invasion. Already 61 599 civilians, including women and children, have been killed. The rational argument has always been that an immediate cessation of the killing is the only reasonable response.
Second, will the increasing condemnation have any practical effect?
The IDF is emboldened to silence a dissenting voice because it has been allowed to operate with impunity for so long. It cares little for the court of public opinion and will not shed its modus operandi unless it is compelled.
How that is achieved is not easy to answer, but it must begin with a unanimous condemnation from all legitimate actors in the media, academia and broader intelligentsia. Our own are being murdered for upholding the values by which we operate.
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