As our screens were inundated with the news of the martyrdom of young and promising journalists in the Gaza Strip—Hamza Wael al-Dahdouh, the eldest son of the steadfast senior journalist and Al Jazeera's first correspondent in Gaza—and Mustafa Thuraiya, that wonderful young man brimming with love for Gaza and captivated by its beauty, who exerted all his effort to capture this beauty from the skies with a drone, just before the Israeli aggression reached out to steal that beauty and replace it with destruction.
The occupation bombed a car carrying the two journalists, resulting in their martyrdom and injuring three other journalists. As we watched, and as the world observed, news of a third Palestinian journalist's martyrdom in Gaza City reached us—Ali Salem Abu Afifeh killed by the Israeli occupation forces while covering the news, bringing the number of our martyred journalists to one hundred and ten in three months.
Amidst the rising death toll, we look to the left and right for those who have always claimed to defend, protect, and support journalists, building colossal institutions on these noble goals and values.
Dear Respected Ones: Where are you now? Where have you been hiding for three months? Why do you remain silent as the grave on this ongoing massacre against Gaza's journalists, which has so far reached one hundred and ten colleagues, taken by the Israeli shelling while they were in the field, at home, or inside their clearly marked vehicles as press, or sometimes even in displacement centers?
The massacre has also continuously affected journalists' families, with dozens martyred and hundreds injured. This number of martyred journalists defies imagination. A quick comparison of this number to that of journalists killed worldwide in 2022 and the preceding year would strike us with horror.
Gaza has offered 110 journalist martyrs in a quarter of a year, while the total number of journalists killed around the world in 2022 was 86, and 55 in 2021, according to the UNESCO's freedom of expression report, with 2022 being named the bloodiest year for journalists. What can be said about this slaughter facing the journalists in Gaza for three months? Why don't these numbers incite the anger of international institutions advocating for freedom of expression and the protection of journalists? And why are their voices so timid and reserved?
What prevents you from screaming as we all scream, like Wael al-Dahdouh, for example? Who holds you back from playing the role that earned you your name and glory, ensuring you would do whatever necessary to protect journalists everywhere?
If you have failed or are incapable, then why not be straightforward with the journalists of Gaza about the reason for your failure or incapacity, if not for your complacency and conspiracy?
We have the right to remind you that you did not delay for an hour in responding to the war in Ukraine. You sent delegations, support, support teams, necessary tools and equipment for journalists' protection, held seminars, workshops, training, criticized Putin and Russia with the strongest words for what befell journalists there—an atrocity pale in comparison to what the criminal occupation has done against our journalists in Gaza. Why did you not do the same when this aggression began on Gaza? Why did you not challenge this occupation by sending your teams?
You are hypocritical, deceitful, fraudulent; you should not wear the cloak of defenders of a profession that is built upon ethical charters and associated with values—for journalism is a message to humanity about what is transpiring around them before it is a job for earning a living.
Why do you not write about the occupation's crimes? Why have you not encouraged your foreign correspondents—members of your institutions, forums, syndicates, and unions—to come to Gaza to cover the war and support their local colleagues, perhaps offering some form of protection or moral support through your presence beside them and delivering their voices and images?
Is it cowardice or indifference, or is the Palestinian journalist not of the same caliber deserving of your effort, struggle, and support, despite being among the bravest journalists humanity has known, among the finest young men and women who clung to their land, their people, their cause and offered the world the clearest picture of the enormity of the crime committed by the occupation?
They deserve accolades and awards for their bravery; but above all, they need your ability to defend their safety, prevent their targeting, and raise your voices to demand an end to the massacre against them. Will you do this before Israel eradicates what remains of them?
