The world’s greatest killer of journalists
Israel is conducting a war against journalism. But journalists keep on documenting its crimes
The Team at The Continent
In May 2022, an Israeli sniper shot and killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. Last week, Israel targeted and killed five journalists in one attack. In between those dates, Israel became the largest killer of journalists in the world.
It has killed at least 247 in the 23 months since 7 October 2023. In the 33 years the Committee to Protect Journalists has tracked this data, 1,708 journalists around the world have been killed for doing their work.
Israel’s surveillance – hosted on Microsoft servers – is one of the world’s most sophisticated. It can kill a single Iranian commander with precision missiles bought by American taxpayers.
It knows who it is targeting.
When it killed Abu Akleh, Israel attempted to lie, blaming “Palestinian militants”. These days, it rarely bothers. All foreign media are banned from reporting from Gaza. Having media cover your war crimes and genocide makes it harder to control the narrative. And Israel excels at controlling the narrative – through threats, lawsuits and pressure. Western media have also been complicit been complicit in giving Israeli officials the benefit of the doubt. But this hasn’t stopped journalists in Gaza, who expect to be killed for their work. Their bravery is staggering. What they’ve documented is how a case of genocide can be built at the International Court of Justice.
In this edition, one of them, Ansam al-Kitaa, writes a letter to the world – and to our industry: “The helmet and vest are no longer tools to protect me as a journalist – they have become symbols of imminent danger.”
We are publishing Al-Kitaa’s letter verbatim because we believe Palestinian journalists should be heard, in their own words, before they disappear. It was translated from Arabic by our editorial partners at Egab.
Our cover is blacked out as part of a global campaign to demand accountability from Israel and its enablers. Over 250 newsrooms in 70 countries are doing the same this week.