(Note: Haaretz, Dec. 2: Journalists in Gaza Face Immense Pressure From Hamas, but Israel's Attacks Are Killing Them
"Since October 7, 2023, more than 137 journalists have been killed across Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon," Carlos Martínez de la Serna, program director of research for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories at the Committee to Protect Journalists, says. "This war has set the record for the most journalists killed in a year and the fastest rate of journalist deaths in conflict since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began tracking such data in 1992."
"We don't simply rely on governments or groups like Hamas. Each case requires at least three independent sources for verification. We aim to understand who was attacked, the context, the situation, and make a clear and transparent assessment. If additional evidence is provided, we always review it," he says, adding that transparency and precision are key.
System of impunity
According to de la Serna, one critical issue that predates the war is Israel's frequent classification of journalists as terrorists without credible evidence – often accompanied by campaigns to justify the targeting of journalists.
"Before the war, we documented over 20 journalist deaths over 22 years attributed to the IDF, with no one ever held accountable. This system of impunity leaves journalists defenseless – not only unable to protect themselves from arrest or detention, but also unable to defend themselves against charges they may not even be aware of," he says.
His organization also released a statement this week following the Israeli government's unprecedented move to sanction Haaretz. "We deplore the Israeli government's attempt to silence a respected Israeli outlet like Haaretz by hurting their advertising and subscription revenue," said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. "Israel's increasing deployment of restrictions on critical media is further disturbing evidence of its efforts to prevent coverage of its actions in Gaza."
The first casualty, when war comes, is TRUTH.
-- Hiram Johnson (1866-1945), a Progressive Republican senator in California)
Israel's oldest daily founded in 1918, Haaretz, now sanctioned by the Israeli government:
Dec. 2: Israel's Former Defense Minister, Army Chief Reaffirms Accusation of IDF Ethnic Cleansing in North Gaza :The former IDF chief and defense minister reasserted his claim that Israel is committing ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, saying that 'the IDF is not the most moral army in the world,' prompting criticism across Israel's political spectrum
On Sunday night, journalist Yaron Avraham wasted no time urging Ya'alon to walk back his decisive statements. "Do you maybe want to start with an apology?" Avraham began the interview. Without hesitation, Ya'alon made it very clear that he would do no such thing. "What I said accurately reflects what's happening on the ground," he answered, before going on to characterize his statements as "simply a mirror held up to many statements made by those in the government." He also said that his decision to use the phrase "ethnic cleansing" was intentional, aimed at ringing alarm bells.
...in particular far-right lawmakers like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotritch, who have repeatedly declared their intentions to build Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Ya'alon added that if it were up to him, those two men would have received the same arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
...he also says he doesn't recognize the army's value system anymore. "I no longer say that we have the most moral army in the world," he told Avraham, referring to the phrase often invoked by pro-Israel supporters to defend the IDF's actions.
Exposé, Nov. 25: AG Advises Against Investigating Remarks by Israeli Ministers, MKs on Suspicion of Inciting to Harm Gaza Civilians
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara accepted the State Prosecutor's recommendation that 'there is no public interest' in investigating the remarks, three days before the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
And Opinion, Aug. 8: Welcome to Hell: B'Tselem's Ignored Abuse Report Shows Israel's True Face
The B'Tselem report published this week, "Welcome to Hell," isn't only a report about what's happening in Israel's prison facilities; it's a report about Israel. Anyone who wants to know what Israel is should read this report before any other document about Israeli democracy.
Anyone who wants to become familiar with the spirit of the times in Israel should note how most of the media outlets ignored the report, which should have caused outrage and shock in Israel. Even the documentation of the gang rape reported this week by Guy Peleg on Channel 12 News didn't show only the Sde Teiman detention facility. It showed the face of the country.
(Note: B'Tselem (Hebrew: בצלם, IPA: [beˈtselem]; transl. "In the Image [of God]") is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of such violations, and help to create a human rights culture in Israel)
My Dear Readers and Poets:
I would like to share with you the following remarks and my tanka written in response to Israel's Former Defense Minister's Claim: IDF Ethnic Cleansing in North Gaza:
History says don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme
Seamus Heaney, "The Cure at Troy"
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXVII: "the living and the dead"
the veil-thin line
between the living and the dead
each raindrop
and every US-made bomb
fall on rows of ripped tents
(FYI: The Canadian Press, Nov. 4: An Israeli strike on a Gaza tent camp kills at least 21 people
An Israeli strike on a tent camp housing displaced people in southern Gaza killed at least 21 people and wounded 28 on Wednesday, said the director of Nasser Hospital, Atif al-Hout, in the nearby city of Khan Younis)
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXVIII: "blank stare"
piles of rubble
cracked stoves, bottles, dusty trash heaps ...
all the way to the sea
the camera moves along
until it meets a girl's blank stare
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXIX: "the Grim Reaper"
the Grim Reaper stalks
a limping boy with no arms ...
his body knows
and the camera shows
in smoky twilight
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXX: "this bloody war"
eating once a day
in a tent the white-haired man
waits for Donald Trump
moaning, either he'll kill us
or he'll end this bloody war
(FYI: CBS News, Nov. 18: Palestinians' hopes and fears as Trump heads back to the White House
The question, Mustafa Barghouti said, is "how you stop the war? Do you stop it by annexing occupied territories? By ethnically cleansing Palestinians? Or do you stop the war by forcing Israel to end its illegal policy of settling Israelis on our land?")
Poetry acts as a witness in, to, and most importantly, through troubled times.
-- Chen-ou Liu, An Interview with Dimitar Anakiev
A poem after a poem after a poem is POWER!
-- paraphrasing Margaret Atwood
We Cannot Be Bystanders to Genocide.
Chen-ou
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXXI: "bombing after bombing"
the red hot gust
of bombing after bombing ...
a headless doll drips blood
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXXII: "bomb after bomb"
bomb after bomb ...
autumn colors of the day
blown away
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXXIII: "Beirut's chill"
piles of rubble
a coffee and food trailer
in Beirut's chill
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