Israel ‘deliberately targeting’ journalists in Gaza, says Australian author after latest killings

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Palestinian journalists "targeted", says author Antony Loewenstein as the death toll of media workers in Gaza rises to 210. Image: AJ screenshot APR

Pacific Media Watch

Israel has been targeting journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory with more intensity since October 7, 2023, says Australian journalist and author Antony Lowenstein.

Pointing to studies that tracked the number of media workers killed in conflicts, he told Al Jazeera: “The number of journalists killed in Gaza is greater than that of all conflicts in the last 100 years combined.”

Lowenstein, author of the landmark book The Palestine Laboratory, which has been translated into several languages and was the basis of a recent two-part documentary series, cited a study by Brown University’s Cost of War project.

Australian author Antony Loewenstein
Australian author Antony Loewenstein . . . “The lack of international outrage speaks volumes about how suddenly the press have a hierarchy of who is important.” Image: AJ screenshot APR

He added that the figures pointed to a “deliberate targeting of journalists”.

Among Western countries, “there is far more interest if China, Russia and Iran target journalists but far less if Israel does”, Lowenstein said.

“The lack of international outrage speaks volumes about how suddenly the press have a hierarchy of who is important, and Palestinians are not top of that list.”

Israel’s war on Gaza ‘worst ever conflict for reporters’
An Israeli attack that killed two people, including a journalist, in Khan Younis comes days after the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University said Israel’s war on Gaza was the “deadliest” for media workers ever recorded.

The US-based think tank, in a report published on April 1, said Israeli forces had killed 232 journalists since October 7, 2023.

That averages 13 a week.

It means that more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the US war in Afghanistan combined.

Since the report’s publication, at least two more journalists have been killed.

They are Helmi al-Faqawi, who was killed yesterday, and Islam Maqdad, who was killed on Sunday along with her husband and their child.

"Press silence = violence", says a New Zealand solidarity for Gazan journalists poster
“Press silence = violence”, says a New Zealand solidarity for Gazan journalists poster at a rally last week. Image: JFP

Meanwhile, the Gaza Government Media Office said that the number of media personnel killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023 had risen to 210 after the killing of al-Faqawi.

Al-Faqawi was among at least two people killed when Israeli warplanes bombed a tent for journalists near a hospital in Khan Younis.

At least seven people were wounded in the attack.

In a report published on April 1, the Watson Institute’s report said Israeli forces had killed 232 journalists since October 7, 2023.

This figure apparently included the West Bank and Lebanon as well as Gaza.

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