Israel’s war against the Gaza Strip is not just military. Most of Tel Aviv’s efforts are aimed at: Win the war of international story. To do this, they have deployed their embassies around the world to full capacity, holding virtual press conferences or bombarding journalists with documents containing their version of events. Meanwhile, they prevent international informants from entering the Gaza Strip, making it almost impossible to independently know what is happening on the ground. This means that reality must be constructed based on statements from both sides, Hamas or the Israeli Army, both of which have a long history of lies. Israeli government approved A. Law on the closure of television channels It can be deployed to Israel and the Occupied Territories, such as Al Jazeera, if it considers them enemies.
Israel responded to the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 (at least 1,400 Israelis died, according to official figures) by indiscriminately bombing Gaza (resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 people, according to Gaza officials). Among these are at least a dozen reportersmostly Palestinians. A Reuters reporter also died after Israel bombed his car on the Lebanese border. Perfectly described as press.
“We ask that you respect the safety and protection of journalists. In the last decade, Israel has killed at least 22 informants. In 2021, all media buildings were bombed. In 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed,” he told this newspaper. Edith Rodríguez Cachera, vice president of Reporters Without Borders, Spain. “We condemn these as war crimes because they are classified as such before the International Criminal Court.”
Information with dropper
As seen following the explosion at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, obtaining accurate and independent information from Gaza is extremely complex. Three days later, the actual death toll remains unknown (some media mention several dozen; Gaza medical sources say half a thousand) nor the cause of the explosion (whether it was a failed Palestinian shell or an Israeli missile).
Just two hours after the massacre, Israel launched an operation. international communication campaignIt has branched out through its diplomatic delegations around the world to show that it was not its army that caused this massacre and that Hamas did it. inflated death toll. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) summoned international journalists to a virtual press conference with its spokesman, Daniel Hagari, to discuss the “failed missile launch by the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad that hit a Gaza hospital.”
They sent documents that claimed to be evidence. Some of these were eliminated after a lack of accuracy was revealed, and others were questioned, such as a conversation between two alleged militiamen who acknowledged its authorship. Palestinian claims about the death toll and the cause of the explosion also emerged. Discredited by fact-checkers and independent mediabased on visual evidence analyzed remotely.
“There’s a perfect storm brewing knowledge comes from a dropper, “and the picture of what is happening is necessarily blurry,” says Rodríguez Cachera. RSF emphasizes that the little information coming from the Strip was obtained through local journalists working in the field. From BBC to Age France Press or Al Jazeerabut “they are too few and supply and movement problems make everything difficult.”
Al Jazeera closure
Last Sunday, it was recorded that an Israeli police officer threatened an Al-Araby television reporter live on air. “What are you talking about? All of Hamas must be slaughteredIs it clear to you? If you do not tell the truth, woe to you! The agent shouted at the journalist, “We will turn Gaza to ashes.”
The anecdote may soon become the norm. Government of Israel (led by Benjamin Netanyahu and formed by a right-wing coalition of ultranationalists and ultra-Orthodox, joined by opposition leader Beny Gantz), recently approved emergency legislation allowing the closure of foreign television networks that “harm the security of the State.” ” during the war. This includes confiscating materials and revoking journalists’ credentials.
That bill Applicable to Al Jazeera According to Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, the bill is expected to be approved in the next Israeli cabinet. They think Qatari channel Al Jazeera is broadcasting “Propaganda serving Hamas in Arabic and English” According to the minister, it “transmits sensitive information to the enemy” for television viewers around the world. “Al Jazeera broadcasts and information constitute incitement against Israel and aid ‘Hamas-Islamic State’” [mantra con el que Tel Aviv pretende identificar a los dos grupos] and terrorist organizations, they incite violence against Israel by making propaganda,” he condemned.
television network, Consists of hundreds of international journalistsIt has various headquarters in the Occupied Territories (including Gaza and the West Bank, East Jerusalem) and its journalists are frequently attacked. They told this newspaper from their headquarters in Ramallah that they were waiting for the decision of the Israeli administration, for which no details were given to them at the moment.
The question is whether other chains will retaliate next. Israeli President Isaac Herzog criticized the British channel BBC’s broadcasts in front of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “The BBC’s presentation about Hamas is a distortion of the facts,” Herzog told Sunak. “We are facing one of the worst terrorist organizations in the world, and I know that in modern democracies like ours there cannot be intervention ‘on its own’ because BBC has certain ties and is known worldwide as the United Kingdom“There needs to be a protest for there to be a correction and for Hamas to be defined as a terrorist organization,” he said.
If the regulations approved by Israel come into force, they will be retroactive. This means that emissions that have already been made can be used as evidence in making a shutdown decision. The measure will be valid for 30 days and may be extended for another 30 days.
Organizations like RSF advocate for inter-state recourse “Media reciprocity”: Demanding the freedom to practice journalism in countries where broadcasting licenses are granted in their countries.