The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, left Gaza in ruins and impacted those living in the West Bank, are different scenarios but they share the story of occupation. When it comes to media coverage by the Global North, they are treated very differently.
In October 2024, a study by the US magazine The Nation found that Palestinians received far less empathetic coverage compared to Israelis and Ukrainians, based on analysis of CNN and MSNBC’ coverage.
One similarity they share is how both Ukrainian and Palestinian journalists have become central in narrating the real impact of the war, with media like The Kyiv Independent in Ukraine, and voices like Motaz Azaiza and Bisan Owda in Gaza.
International journalists have been covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they have not been allowed to enter Gaza to document the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) air and land attacks, leaving Palestinian journalists as the only voices able to explain and report on the devastating human toll on the Palestinian civilian population.
Three levels of risk for Palestinian journalists
When British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the UK Foreign Affairs Committee in November that there are no journalists in Gaza, he was playing into a problematic and dangerous narrative.
This narrative is certainly problematic from the point of view of Western exceptionalism, as it tends to only recognise journalists from the Global North and whose first language is English as worthy actors (a form of colonial-postcolonial gaze). It is dangerous because it shields the IDF from its own attacks on journalists, by suggesting that no journalists operate in Gaza.
The IDF and Israeli authorities tend to repeat the mantra that journalists in Gaza are not independent, and are Hamas operatives, justifying their killings in the framework of their military strikes., It strips Palestinian journalists of their status as civilians by regarding them instead as enemy combatants.
Article 79 of the Geneva Convention formally states that journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in zones of armed conflict are civilians within the meaning of Article 50.
A recent case is the murder of Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Badel Abdul Karim Shabat in Gaza.; US journalist and founder of Drop Site News Jeremy Scahill shared a post by the IDF on X, which accused Hossam of being a Hamas terrorist. As Scahill posted “The Israeli military openly admits it assassinated journalist Hossam Shabat. It placed him on a hit list last December and murdered him on Monday. It is waging a despicable propaganda campaign to justify Hossam’s killing, just as it has against doctors, UN workers, children, etc.”
Hossam Shabat’s last article was published by Drop Site News and its closing paragraph could not be more telling or poignant as it reads “Israel’s aggression continues. Massacre after massacre, leaving only the screams of mothers in its wake and the dreams of children that have turned to ash. There is no justification for this. Everything is being crushed: the lives of innocent people, their dignity, and their hopes for a better future.”
Palestinian journalists are under threat on three levels: they face a “character assassination” by the IDF and Israeli authorities who portray them as terrorists pretending to be journalists, they risk their lives by simply operating in Gaza under attack and, because of their reporting, they may be specifically targeted by the IDF.
On the latter front, the Committee to Protect Journalists has highlighted that at least 13 journalists, including Shabat, and two media workers were directly targeted by Israeli forces in what the Committee considers murders.
Overall, the International Federation of Journalists(IFJ) working with its affiliate, the Palestine Journalists Syndicate has reported that 154 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
When it comes to Ukraine, according to the IFJ, 21 Ukrainian journalists have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The IFJ has also called for investigations into the deaths of journalist, including Tatiana Kulyk, from the Ukrinform News Agency, given that the circumstances suggest a targeted killing. Kulyk was killed alongside her husband in their home in Kyiv Oblast in a Russian drone attack.
A striking difference in the coverage is that political and media actors have condemned the killings of Ukrainians, as well as of international journalists operating in Ukraine, at the hands of the Russian occupation forces, but the same does not always happen for Palestinian journalists.
On August 26, 2024, 60 NGOs and organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Reporters without Borders addressed a letter to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell and Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrokvis calling on the EU to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and to meet three press freedom demands: provide access and uphold the freedom to report, protect the lives of journalists, ensure accountability and end impunity.
Josep Borrell was vocal on Palestinian rights and the situation in Gaza. However, his mandate is over, and while the current EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, has called for a renewed ceasefire, she has not maintained the same level of criticism of Israeli authorities. These press freedom demands have not yet been implemented by the Commission.
Since October 2023 Palestinian journalists in Gaza have been chronicling the destruction of their homes, universities, schools, and hospitals and the killing of their people, which has been labelled as a genocide by scholars like Amos Goldberg, the Jonah M. Machover Chair in Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and NGOs including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Others have different views, like Israeli historian Benny Morris who wrote in Haaretz that Israel is not committing a genocide, but that it may be on the way.
Those who study genocide, the Holocaust, and mass violence are also divided on whether Israel has been committing a genocide, as Mari Cohen, associated editor of Jewish Currents, analysed.
The existential threat that Palestinian journalists in Gaza face can be seen in the work of Bisan Owda, who has won an Emmy Award for her report on AJ+ “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m still alive” . The very fact that Owda starts her reports by stating her name and that she is still alive, highlights the risks that Palestinian journalists face.
This is one of the reasons why international media development organisations have a crucial responsibility to Palestinian journalists, a responsibility to protect them, amplify their voices, and condemn Israeli authorities for targeting and killing them, as well as to stop false equivalences or a misplaced idea of balance.
They can offer training and monitoring of the risks journalists face, while denouncing their targeting and murders. The public, which has joined protests across the globe in solidarity with the Palestinian people, must also call on the international media to do more.
Media should keep in mind and honour the last message Hossam Shebat shared with Drop Site News, “I ask you now: do not stop speaking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories—until Palestine is free.”
