The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since the Israeli regime started the invasion of Gaza on October 7, 2023.
According to the Journalist Syndicate in Gaza, the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 has become 157. OHCHR has raised similar serious concerns about killings of journalists in the past in the context of the current escalations in Gaza.
Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli regime’s ground assault, including devastating airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and extensive power outages. This has meant that it is becoming increasingly hard to document the situation.
To know more about the situation and the Western countries’ double-standards, we interviewed Brian Berletic, an American geopolitical researcher.
Here is the full text of the interview:
During the war in Gaza, tens of journalists have been targeted and killed. Can this large number of killings of Journalists by the Israeli regime’s troops be considered accidental or they have been targeted intentionally?
BB: At the beginning of Israeli military operations in Gaza, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced the IDF would focus on «maximum damage» rather than precision. This announcement of Israel’s intentions to discard international law in the execution of its military operations in Gaza means that all civilian deaths, including those of journalists and aid workers, are very much deliberate and a matter of Israeli policy rather than unavoidable collateral damage.
Why does Israel target journalists while journalists and media are considered necessary for the promotion of democracy across the world?
BB: Israeli military operations are designed specifically to be provocative. The more hypocritical and inhumane these operations are, the deeper the emotional reaction to them will be. The purpose is to create public anger across the region to complicate the efforts of regional governments to avoid the wider war Israel and its US sponsors seek to precipitate with such operations. Public anger creates growing pressure and instability in nations across the region, making it more difficult for governments to exercise patience and restraint in response to US-Israeli aggression.
As you know journalists are considered observers of democracy in Western countries and Europe, but they have kept silent in face of the killing of journalists by the Israeli regime. Why? How can these double-standards be justified? What would the Western media and journalists do if Russian troops killed more than 100 journalists in the Ukraine war?
BB: The simple reality is that Western «journalism» exists in name only. Media organizations across the West covering the conflict in Gaza (and elsewhere across the region and around the world) are propagandists who use notions like «journalism,» «democracy,» and «human rights» as a smokescreen to help justify and advance an otherwise indefensible foreign policy pursued by the collective West which includes the use of Israel as an aggressive regional proxy. The Western media does not seek to «inform» the global public about the events unfolding in Gaza, but rather mislead, divide, and provoke the public.
While Western media claim they are bound to impartiality apart from the ones directly run by Israel, it seems Israel and its allies are guiding and leading these media using different tactics even the ones that want to be impartial or at least pretending to be impartial. What do you think of this?
BB: The Western media serves as a means of advancing US-European foreign policy objectives, all under the guise of conducting «journalism.» Among these foreign policy objectives is the use of Israel to wage proxy wars against US-European adversaries across the Middle East, to justify a large Western military presence in the region, and provoke war that the collective West itself can intervene in directly. Just as Western special interests exercise influence over the Western media, they also exercise tremendous influence over the Israeli government and media, creating both unity and continuity of agenda. It is very similar to how the US uses Ukraine as a proxy against Russia, controlling virtually all aspects of Ukraine’s government and information space, including its media. Understanding this problem fully is the first step toward finding a solution to it.
What measures can be taken by journalists and activists across the world to defend journalists’ lives in Gaza?
BB: It is paramount that real, objective journalism and analysis be conducted regarding the ongoing war in Gaza. Attention must be brought to what is really happening and why. As human as it is to become emotional (angry, sad, desperate) regarding the systemic abuses carried out by Israeli forces both in Gaza and across the wider region, allowing emotions rather than reason and facts to drive coverage of the war only helps further provoke and polarize the public, making escalation (and the continued loss of innocent life) all but inevitable. It is just as important to reach out to victims of Western propaganda and convince them of the facts, as it is to continue informing those who already understand the truth about the unfolding events in and around Gaza.