THE death of Shireen Abu Akleh highlights the dangers and difficulties of trying to report on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and yet apart from the initial mention in the mainstream press, particularly with the Israeli Government version of events, nothing more is reported.
I presume the US press would have made more of the events, especially as it involved a US citizen, but I shan’t hold my breath. I recall the last time this occurred to a US female reporter, reporting on the demolition of a Palestinian house, she was “accidentally run over” by a bulldozer, and little was made of it, after all we cannot rock the boat over US- Israeli relations.
According to Al Jazeera, the Roman Catholic clergy of Jerusalem have said that the “actions of the Israeli forces were disrespectful and disproportionate in their use of force at the funeral of Shireen Abu Akleh”. Was that reported on the BBC?
I recall a wedding in Poland in 2016, sitting opposite a young man around 22-25 years of age, an Orthodox Jew. (I only knew because he wore a kippah, and did not eat pork.) He said to me that the Israeli government had learned well from their experiences in Germany of the 1930s and applied it in Palestine.He was of the opinion that the government was “acting like Nazis” – unlike the Jewish people, many of whom wished a peaceful end to the conflict.
READ MORE: Independent probe points to Israeli gunfire in journalist death
It would seem to me that the tendency nowadays by our right-wing media, and some within political parties, is to conflate the behaviour of the Israeli government with the people of Israel.
This suits their purpose but is a major mistake. Somewhat similar to identifying all Scots as supporting the present Westminster government!
In the meantime, I can only lament the apparent murder of yet another excellent reporter, continue to watch the world news from Al Jazeera, and maintain our household tradition that absolutely nothing produced in Israel is purchased.
Paul Gillon
Fife
ON May 11, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed Al Jazeera’s veteran reporter Shereen Abu Aqleh while she was covering an Israeli military raid into the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
We all remember the despicable scenes of the Israeli occupation forces attacking the funeral.
The 51-year-old Palestinian-American TV correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic was wearing a protective vest marked with “PRESS” and standing with other journalists when she was shot dead by an Israeli sniper.
Abu Aqleh’s death is the latest in a long line of journalists killed by the Israeli occupation, which has a long history of targeting reporters and other members of the media.
A total of 55 journalists have been killed since 2000 by the Israeli forces.
The following is a short summary of journalists who have been killed covering the Israeli occupation violations against Palestinians and year of death: Shireen Abu Akleh (2022); Yusef Abu Hussein (2021); Ahmad Abu Hussein (2018); Abdullah Fade Mur-taja (2014); Ali Shehta Abu Afash (2014); Hamada Khaled Mugat (2014); Simone Camelli (2014); Shadi Hamdi Ayad (2014); Abdullah Nasr Khalil Fajjan (2014); Muhammad Majed Daher (2014; Muhammad Nour al-Din Mustafa al-Diri (2014); Rami Fathi Hussein Rayan (2014); Same Muhammad al-Arian (2014); Ahed Afif Zaqout (2014); Izzat Salama Dahir (2014); Bahaa al-Din al-Charib (2014); Abd al-Rah-man Ziyad Abu Hein (2014); Khaled Rid Muhammad Hamad (2014); Naglaa Mahmoud al-Hajj (2014); Hamed Abdullah Shehab (2014); Muhammad Musa Abu Eisha (2012); Mahmoud Ali Ahmad al-Koumi (2012); Hussam Muhammad Salama (2012); Cevdet Kiliclar (2010); Ala Hammad Mahmoud Murtaja (2009); lhab Jamal (2009): Hassan Al-Wahidi (2009); Basil Ibrahim Faraj (2009); Omar Abdel-Hafiz Al-Silawi (2009); Fadel Sobhi Shana’a (2008); Hassan Ziyad Shaqoura (2008); Muhammad Adel Abu Halima (2004); Khalil Muhammad Khalil Al-Zaben (2004); James Henry Dominic Miller (2003); Nazih Adel Darwaza (2003); Fadi Nashaat Alawneh (2003); Issa Mithqal Hamza Al-Talawi (2002); Imad Sobhi Abu Zahra (2002); Amjad Bahjat Al-Alami (2002); Jamil Abd Allah Nawara (2002); Ahmed Noaman (2002); Raffaele Chirilo (2002); Muhammad Abdul-Karim Al-Bishawi (2001); Othman Abdul-Qader Al-Qatani (2001); Aziz Youssef Al-Tanh (2000) B McKenna Dumbarton IN his BBC interview on last Sunday morning’s show with Sophie Raworth, Jeremy Hunt, when discussing the Northern Ireland protocol, said it should be possible to send goods from England to Nothern Ireland without the current checks.
No mention of Scotland or Wales.
Yet again, it seems that Great Britain is just England in the mind of Jeremy Hunt and the Conservative party.
No wonder, people in Wales and Scotland want separation from this perpetual mindset!
Douglas
Bovell
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