Turkish journalist beaten up by Israeli soldiers

 

When they're not killing Israeli hostages, Hamas fighters, or innocent Palestinians, the Israeli Army are known to target and kill journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 63 journalists have been killed since 7 October while covering the Israel-Hamas war. The majority have been killed in Gaza. The picture in this posting shows Israeli soldiers attacking a Turkish photojournalist called Mustafa Haruf. He was first struck in the head by a rifle and then dragged to the ground and kicked in the head. The incident occurred in occupied East Jerusalem. Haruf who works for the Turkish news agency Anadolu, was hospitalised with severe head injuries.

Last month the news channel Al-Jazeera, reported that eight BBC employees had written to them criticising the BBC's "pro-Israel bias and insufficient coverage of Palestinian civilians compared to the Israelis in their broadcasts on the Israel-Palestine issue." The authors of the 2,300-word letter said the BBC had "failed to critically approach Israel's claims, couldn't tell the story accurately, and therefore couldn't help the public understand human rights violations in Gaza." They said the BBC used terms like "massacre" and "brutality" only for Hamas, and portrayed the Palestinian group as the sole provocateur of violence in the region. They claim the BBC carefully portrays Israeli suffering by telling audiences the names of the victims, covering funerals, and interviewing families. Yet, in comparison, the BBC journalists say that humanising coverage by the BBC of Palestinian civilians, has been singularly lacking.

Why is it that we're told the names of the Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas, but not the names of the innocent Palestinian women and children who have been killed in their thousands by Israeli carpet bombing? Obviously, to the BBC, some lives are more important than others. The eight BBC journalists, who have requested anonymity, "fearing reprisal", accused the corporation of "double standards' in how it reports on war crimes and the war in the Ukraine, with its reporting on the conflict in Gaza which has seen over 17,000 people killed, including many women and children. Over 10,000 children have been killed or are lost under the rubble and presumed dead following the Israeli carpet bombing of Gaza.

The Israeli authorities claim that 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas in the  attack on 7 October.  In Britain, neither the Conservative government of Rishi Sunak or the Labour Party led by Sir Keir Starmer-oid, have called for a ceasefire in Gaza. In failing to call for a ceasefire, are they condoning genocide and ethnic cleansing? In October, Paul Bristow, a Conservative MP, was sacked from his government job when he called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.