Israel's murderous killing spree against Palestinian journalists
Targeting independent Palestinian voices in Gaza is a deliberate attempt to silence truth-tellers.
The grim facts should speak for themselves. Since 7 October 2023, Israel has deliberately killed an unprecedented number of Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Those brave individuals are smeared as Hamas operatives and terrorists by Israel and its supporters.
But the real story behind this, beyond just Western racism and dehuminisation towards Arab reporters who don’t work for the corporate media in London or New York, is an Israeli military strategy to deliberately (and falsely) link Gazan journalists to Hamas.
The outlet +972 Magazine explains the plan:
The Israeli military has operated a special unit called the “Legitimization Cell,” tasked with gathering intelligence from Gaza that can bolster Israel’s image in the international media, according to three intelligence sources who spoke to +972 Magazine and Local Call and confirmed the unit’s existence.
Established after October 7, the unit sought information on Hamas’ use of schools and hospitals for military purposes, and on failed rocket launches by armed Palestinian groups that harmed civilians in the enclave. It has also been assigned to identify Gaza-based journalists it could portray as undercover Hamas operatives, in an effort to blunt growing global outrage over Israel’s killing of reporters — the latest of whom was Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, killed in an Israeli airstrike this past week.
According to the sources, the Legitimization Cell’s motivation was not security, but public relations. Driven by anger that Gaza-based reporters were “smearing [Israel’s] name in front of the world,” its members were eager to find a journalist they could link to Hamas and mark as a target, one source said.
As a journalist who’s visited and reported in Gaza since 2009, here’s a short film I made after my first trip, Palestinian journalists are some of the most heroic individuals on the planet. They have to navigate both Israeli attacks and threats and Western contempt for their craft.
I stand in solidarity with them. And so should you:
After the recent Israeli murder of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, I spoke to Al Jazeera English about him and Israel’s deadly campaign:
My recent work has mostly focused on the apocalyptic situation in the Middle East. There’s a small selection of my interviews below with global broadcasters CNN, Al Jazeera English and others and you can see the rest on my website and YouTube channel:
I’m an independent journalist without any institutional backing. If you’re able to support me financially, by donating money to continue this work, I’d hugely appreciate it. You can find donating options in the menu bar at the top of my website and via Substack.
I can now reveal that my next documentary film will broadcast globally in September. It’s about the toxic relationship between Israel and Germany, the abuse of historical memory and empowering the far-right. I’ve been working on it with an incredible team in the UK, Black Leaf Films, for much of the year.
I’ll share concrete details very soon:
With a growing number of major Western nations pledging to recognise Palestine soon, it’s worth asking what it means in practice (hint; not much). I spoke to Al Jazeera’s show The Take about it:
Following a recent cinema screening in Sydney, Australia of my film series, The Palestine Laboratory, (watch part 1 and part 2 here), there was an informative Q&A afterwards where we discussed how Israeli surveillance and weapons are exported globally:
The impoverished and war-torn nation of South Sudan in East Africa is reportedly in discussions with Israel about potentially taking in some Palestinians from Gaza. It’s a grossly irresponsible and illegal plan that must be rejected out of hand.
I was based in South Sudan in 2015 with my aid-worker partner, Ali, so had some thoughts about the viability of this idea:
My book, The Palestine Laboratory, has been translated into countless languages, including Spanish, and here’s a wonderful clip from CNN Chile where they talk about the book and its timely message (if you can’t speak Spanish, you’ll get the gist pretty quickly):
The number of journalists murdered by Israel in Gaza is unprecedented. Australia’s leading media union, the MEAA, of which I’m a member, organised this powerful tribute to them:
My monthly column for UK outlet, Middle East Eye:
Australia and Israel are currently in a diplomatic spat over Gaza, aid and Palestine recognition. It’s arguably little more than theatre because both countries continue to trade heavily so a few thoughts:
While politicians bicker in Israel and Australia, Israel’s campaign of mass destruction continues in Gaza and the West Bank:
I’m honoured to be the keynote speaker at the annual dinner for one of Australia’s leading civil rights organisations, the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties:
We live in an age of rampant conspiracies. A new book, Ghosts of Iron Mountain, recounts a seminal conspiracy theory from the late 1960s and how it still resonates today. I reviewed it for The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age:
The iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge recently saw a massive pro-Palestine march with up to 300,000 people attending. It was a remarkable show of solidarity with the people of Palestine. I marched with my family and so many others from a diverse range of backgrounds:
I gave the following speech (in the pouring rain):
Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis is being taken to court by the pro-Israel lobby in a test case for free speech around Israel and Palestine. I spoke at a recent event in support of her where I detailed some of the background, history and fears of the lobby:
My first book, My Israel Question from 2006, is still available here:
As the co-founder of co-editor of Declassified Australia, an independent news site, I’m proud of the work that we’re producing. Here’s some of our recent ground-breaking investigations (and you can read them all at our website):
In other news:
My book, The Palestine Laboratory, will soon be released in many new translated editions including Polish, Bangla and Indonesian in October;
The book was positively reviewed in one of India’s leading outlets, The Wire;
A recent academic study into the Israeli company, Cellebrite, that references some of my work.
You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter for constantly updated content. My website has information about all my work, books and documentary films stretching back to 2003.
I’m an independent journalist without any institutional backing. If you’re able to support me financially, by donating money to continue this work, I’d hugely appreciate it. You can find donating options in the menu bar at the top of my website and via Substack.
Thanks very much for reading.
Take care.
Antony