written in response to Democracy Now, DECEMBER. 20, 2023: [NewYork-based, American NGO] Committee to Protect Journalists: Israel Is Killing Media Workers at Unprecedented Pace
Reprinted on My Haiku Pond, Nov. 23 2024
Chen-ou Liu
Commentary: L 1 sets the scene and mood while unexpected yet sociopolitically significant and visually and emotionally poignant L3 makes this war haiku thematically evocative of and resonant with the following remark:
The first casualty, when war comes, is TRUTH.
-- Hiram Johnson (1866-1945), a Progressive Republican senator in California
And when evaluated in the thematic context of the Israel-Hamas war, a "bullet-RIDDLED helmet/marked PRESS"in Ls 2&3 shows that this is a TARGETED KILLING of a journalist, a symbol of the Press.
Then, one important question remains unanswered for the reader's reflection: WHY?
FYI:
Gaza:
As of November 26, 2024, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 137 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
As of November 26:
137 journalists and media workers were confirmed killed: 129 Palestinian, two Israeli, and six Lebanese.
49 journalists were reported injured
2 journalists were reported missing
74 journalists were reported arrested.
Multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of family members.
Lebanon:
CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists), Alerts, Nov. 26: CPJ calls for international probe after evidence indicates Israel targeted journalists in deadly Lebanon strike
Prior to the Israel-Gaza war, in May 2023, CPJ’s “Deadly Pattern” report found that Israel had never held its military to account for 20 journalist killings over 22 years.
Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz
Opinion, Nov. 15: Armed With Mineral Water and a Camera, Mainstream Israeli Media Is Part of the Military
Nov. 24: Israeli Government Imposes Sanctions on Haaretz, Cuts All Ties and Pulls Advertising
Exposé, Nov. 25: AG Advises Against Investigating Remarks by Israeli Ministers, MKs on Suspicion of Inciting to Harm Gaza Civilians
Opinion, Nov. 26: Boycotting Haaretz: Part of Netanyahu's Masterplan to Destroy Press Freedom in Israel
Opinion, Nov. 27: Haaretz Under Attack: How Netanyahu Adopted Putin and Erdogan's Authoritarian Playbook
Analysis, Nov.29: Netanyahu Wants to Be Hungarian Prime Minister Orban and Israel's Free Press Is Standing in His Way: Under the cover of war, the Israeli government has chosen to dismantle both the free press and the High Court of Justice in a single stroke
Nov. 30: Netanyahu's War on the Israeli Media and How It Is Already Affecting Press Freedom
The sanctions imposed on Haaretz, and the new bill introduced this week aimed at defunding Kan, Israel's public broadcaster, are designed to "bully the free press" and act as a "sword that is supposed to hang over their heads and and try to intimidate them," said Persico, a staff writer for The Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli magazine that covers the media
And Haaretz's Nov. 25 email: Netanyahu's government wants to shut us down. It's time to read Haaretz: Support free and independent journalism in Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his pursuit of unchecked power, is trying to boycott Haaretz in the hope that he can silence us. It is happening while his government is dismantling all checks and balances and crushing the gatekeepers of democracy.
Netanyahu wants to rule an Israel free of an independent judiciary, turning the police and security organs into private militias – and of course without a free and critical media standing in his way.
The Israeli government's decision to impose sanctions on Haaretz is just one more step in the prime minister's journey of destruction. We are not deterred by the threats made by Netanyahu and his propaganda machine. We will not capitulate, and we will continue serving our readers and protecting our journalistic freedom with only the public interest in mind.
This is the time to join us! Buy a Haaretz subscription now and you will be subscribing to independent, critical journalism dedicated to fighting for Israeli democracy.
Sincerely,
Aluf Benn
Haaretz Editor-in-chief
And USA, Enabler of IsraeliWarCrimes:
The Nation, Nov. 25: How the US Media Helped the Biden Administration Distance Itself From the Horrors of Gaza
White House–curated stories of performative outrage and feigned helplessness provided cover for an administration arming death on an industrial scale.
An analysis of press coverage of the first year of the siege, bombing, and invasion of Gaza reveals a US media eager to produce narratives that allow the White House to distance itself from the moral, social, political, and professional consequences of their support for Israel. White House and State Department reporters at major US outlets, we will show, consistently took self-serving claims by anonymous aides at face value, did not interrogate clear conflicts of interest, and focused too much on alleged personality disputes, unverifiable states of mind, and assumed benevolent motives over material policy.
This distancing of the White House from the carnage in Gaza is achieved through three reporting genres: Helpless Biden, Fuming/Deeply Concerned Biden, and Third-Partying.
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