democracty, the freedom of press and the killings of journalists.

 "What policymakers believe to have taken place in any particular case is what matters — more than what actually occurred."  General Petraeus. 

A philosophy which believes that deception and the management of Perception overrides reality is a philosophy that betrays the very foundations of true democracy because it  does not believe in one of the main pillars of Democracy.  Freedom of  the Press which creates informed citizens

The press is simply  something to be managed, its narrative controlled, its stories spun out.
The perceptions of  the People  and even the Politicians, managed .


General Petraeus was  head of the CIA. The motto of  another spy agency, the Mossad, is - "By way of deception thou shalt do war." Psy Ops based on deception and  aimed at People and Politicians are the modern way of fighting wars.  Controlling the  stories that launch and  maintain wars  is a must for  the modern warring State.  

It is no wonder then,  that Journalists are targeted constantly . And it is not just through official spin ,  and the creation of  an embedded Press . Journalists are targeted by bullets and missiles, too.

That is  the regrettable  raw reality of the wars we have seen in recent times. That is the way wars are fought today.  

The targeting and killing of journalists  in Gaza, then,  is nothing new to the  Free World which does not , it seems, want a truly Free Press or True Democracies. 





Israel’s explanation for killing two journalists in Gaza? Palestinians aren’t journalists, they’re ‘targets’







After a second Israeli attack on a media building in two days, this time killing two journalists, the spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Mark Regev explains toal-Jazeera English that because the journalists were Palestinian the Israel military considered them legitimate "targets." Regev's remarks were made just a few hours after the November 19, 2012 bombing of al-Shuruq Tower and another building used to house the offices of several media outlets, including both Palestinian and international networks.

Speaking to al-Jazeera, Regev said, "We took out the target that we wanted to take out." When pressed by al-Jazeera over the injuries of eight journalists the previous day, where one lost his leg, Regev continued,

Oh you're talking about... oh first of all maybe we have a discussion about who is a journalist and if you'll allow me I will elaborate on this. There is the al-Aqsa station, which is a station that is a Hamas command and control facility, just as in other totalitarian regimes; the media is used by the regime for command and control and also for security purposes. From our point of view that's not a legitimate journalist.

Al-Jazeera's correspondent then followed-up by asking, "So what are you saying? That a local Arab journalist life is any less than an internationalist journalist?"Apparently for Regev, yes, in Gaza there are no legitimate Palestinian journalists, only targets.

This callous disregard for human life should come as no surprise to us. Yesterday after the first strike on the Shawa and Hossari Building the Foreign Press Association in Israel issued a letter noting that a United Nations Security Council resolution says that journalists covering conflict civilians that must be protected. Israeli military spokesperson Avital Leibovich responded “The journalists in these buildings were serving as human shields for Hamas,” knowing full well the building included the offices of Sky News, al-Arabiya news network, Dubai TV al-Aqsa TV, Russia Today, and Lebanese, German and Italian news teams and more.


http://mondoweiss.net/2012/11/israels-explanation-for-killing-two-journalists-in-gaza-palestinians-arent-journalists-theyre-targets.html. 





War crimes

Israel’s attacks on journalists is a war crime. And this is a continuation of a tactic that Israel has used against journalists, with impunity, to slam the lid on exposing the truth about its crimes in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine. Today, the National Union of Journalists in the UK issued a condemnation of Israel’s attacks on reporters in Gaza and called for a full investigation into the Israeli army’s “deliberate attacks on media buildings.”

Since 2008, as The Electronic Intifada has reported, nearly a dozen Palestinian media outlets have been raided, and fourteen media stations have had their equipment stolen and confiscated by the Israeli military.

The Committee to Protect Journalists have issued reports on the Israeli military arresting Palestinian journalists in the occupied West Bank during demonstrations against Israel’s wall, settlements and land confiscations. CPJ also reported on the arrest by Israel of the head of the Palestinian prison news service earlier this year.

And EI’s Asa Winstanley reported last March that Israel refused to release two Palestinian journalists it had arrested, after the International Federation of Journalists appealed to Israel to do so.

In April 2008, Israel’s army killed Palestinian journalist Fadel Shana’a, a cameraman for Reuters, in a targeted tank shelling attack. Israel then exonerated itself for the killing. 

EI reported that:

After the first missile that killed Fadel, a second tank missile directly hit the Reuters vehicle in which Fadel had been traveling, killing two children and another civilian close by, and injuring 12 others, including five children. Wafa Abu Mezyed, 25, a Reuters sound man, was injured.

As Rami Almeghari reported shortly after Shana’a’s killing, “The Israeli military advocate-general stated in a 12 August letter to the Reuters news agency that it had found Israeli soldiers had acted properly in the April killing Fadel Shana’a.”

Indeed, Israel’s entrenched policy of literally shooting the messenger continues to go unchallenged.


http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/when-israel-says-it-doesnt-target-journalists-it-lying





"These attacks constitute obstruction of freedom of information," stated Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire. "We remind the Israeli authorities that, under humanitarian law, the news media enjoy the same protection as civilians and cannot be regarded as military targets."




The Foreign Press Association (FPA) expressed their "concern" with Israel’s strike on a "media building housing FPA members Sky News, Sky News Arabia, MBC TV, Al-Arabiya, ORF and other European broadcasters."




Predictably, Israel tried to justify hitting buildings being used by journalists by claiming it was "infrastructure of Hamas’ operational communications" were located inside the civilian building. It targeted the communication devices on the rooftop to "minimize damage." And, it hit the second building because that building was also "part of Hamas’ operational communications." They "deliberately located" the devices on the roof of the building, the army claimed.




Deloire did not accept this official statement, "Even though the outlets targeted are linked to Hamas, it does not legitimize the attacks…Attacks against civilian targets constitute war crimes."




Ofir Gendelman, spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,tweeted that "No Western journalists were hurt" in the attacks on the media buildings, which suggests the lives of non-Western journalists are meaningless to Israel. They can be wounded or killed and that will be fine because it will be easy to suggest they were Hamas sympathizers or were working for the Hamas.

 "In the early morning, Israeli forces jammed the broadcasts of a number of local radio stations, and broadcast messages on the waves of these stations.  Further to this, 4 local news websites were hacked by Israeli forces on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. " Which begs the question, why couldn’t Israel do this with the "Hamas antenna"? Why not simply jam or interfere with communications?

The truth is Israel intended to send a message to journalists. They want the press to clear out. They want press to have only a few sources for information on Gaza attacks and any ground invasion: the appointed spokespeople of Israel.

Israel has committed violations of international human rights law like this before. On December 28, 2008, as Reporters Without Borders documented, "A bomb dropped by an Israeli aircraft struck the building housing the offices of Al-Aqsa TV. The building consists of five floors, was completely destroyed. Several people were injured, but no deaths were reported in the strike. The channel continued to broadcast its programs." This occurred during the Gaza conflict of 2008-2009.

In an interview posted on July 27, 2010, a legal expert for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Robin Geiss, generally outlined:

…Inasmuch as they are civilians, journalists are protected under international humanitarian law against direct attacks unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities. Violations of this rule constitute a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I. What is more, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian – whether in an international or in a non-international armed conflict – also amounts to a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court…

The targeting of journalists is a war crime. If the world is to be outraged at every rocket fired by Hamas or Palestinian militants, then the world should also be outraged at any attack on facilities being used by journalists in Gaza. And the world should be aware that this is all part of Israel’s PR or propaganda policy to ensure eyewitness accounts from reporters or journalists on the ground do not interfere with whatever official statements they wish to feed citizens around the globe.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m92796&hd=&size=1&l=e


update :

Three Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli airstrikes on central and northern Gaza Tuesday evening, after media buildings were hit by Israeli warplanes two days in a row.

Mahmoud al-Koumi and Husam Salameh, both cameramen for al-Aqsa TV, were killed in an airstrike on a car near al-Wihda towers in the Gaza City.

Both men were 30-years-old and the father of four children.

Palestinian press freedom group Mada said the journalists were traveling in an Al-Aqsa TV car marked with a press sign. Two others were injured in the strike, medics said.

Another airstrike killed Muhammad Abu Aisha, the director of Al-Quds Educational Radio, in his car in Deir al-Balah.

Their deaths have sparked outrage among Gaza’s press corps. Mada condemned the strike as a “heinous crime . . . (and) a flagrant breach of the international conventions that protect journalists.”

http://www.labournet.net/world/1211/gaza4.html