The Palestine Media Agency calls for solidarity to support Anas Al-Sharif, the last surviving Al-Jazeera journalist in northern Gaza, defamed and threatened by the Israeli army.
“I no longer have the words,” confided, Sunday, August 11, Anas Al-Sharif, reporter for al-Jazeera, in a video published on his Instagram account upon his arrival in the courtyard of the school in the al-Darraj neighborhood, in Gaza City. (see below)
Behind him, we can see the horrific massacre that took place just hours earlier, as Palestinians, sheltering inside the Al-Tabin school in the center of Gaza City, were performing prayers of dawn. More than 100 martyrs.
Numerous reports have since documented this umpteenth carnage perpetrated by Israel, one of the deadliest in Gaza since last October. On August 12, we published testimonies describing an unbearable level of violence. Visibly upset by the scene he witnessed, Anas Al Sharif added: “I cannot describe what is happening.”
If this video moved a large audience, who showed their support for the journalist and their indignation at this attack, it also caused the Israeli army to react.
In a series of tweets, IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee accused Anas Al Sharif of presenting a lie, before adding that the journalist must “know the names of a large number of Hamas terrorists among those who were killed in the school,” insinuating, without providing any proof, that there was a link between the media and Hamas.
These statements raise fears for the journalist’s safety. As the Palestine Media Agency detailed in an article dated August 13, 2024, journalists present in Gaza are deliberately targeted by the Israeli army, even though they are carrying out their duties and are identifiable as such.
While international media are prevented from entering Gaza to document the conflict, journalists who were there in October are in danger, both as civilians and professionals.
In a statement released later today, August 10, 2024, Al Jazeera Media Network called the Israeli army spokesperson’s statements acts of intimidation: “These remarks are not only an attack on the character and Anas’ integrity but also a clear attempt to suppress the truth and silence those who courageously report on the situation in Gaza.
Since July 31 and the assassination of his colleagues Ismail Al-Ghoul and Rami Al Rifi, Anas Al-Sharif has been the last correspondent for AL-Jazeera in northern Gaza. The journalist had previously received threats for his work as a reporter, and his father was killed on December 11, 2023, after an Israeli airstrike hit his family home in Jabalia.
The Palestine Media Agency, as well as many press protection organizations, is concerned for its survival and relays Al-Jazeera’s appeal to the international community to be “in solidarity with Anas Al-Sharif and all the journalists who risk their lives to bring the reality of Gaza to the whole world. »
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented the killing of at least seven journalists and media workers affiliated with Al Jazeera – which Israel has banned from operating inside the country – since the start of the Israel-Gaza war last October. CPJ is “deeply concerned” for the Al Jazeera correspondent’s safety. Since October 7, the Palestinian Journalists Union has reported a total of 160 journalists have been murdered by the Israeli army.
“This is one of the most egregious attacks on press freedom that I have ever experienced,” says Carlos Martinez de la Serna, director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) about Israel’s genocidal offensive. for 11 months.
The Israeli army has rejected “false accusations that it is targeting journalists”. However, more and more evidence supports these accusations. Following the publication of a detailed and damning investigation on the subject, Phil Chetwynd, information director of AFP whose offices in Gaza were seriously damaged by probable Israeli tank fire on November 2, 2023, declared: “The thing that worries me the most is that it doesn’t cause a scandal. Around the world, I don’t see the voices of different governments complaining about it. This is extremely worrying.”
If there were 100 or 140 Israeli or Ukrainian journalists killed, I don’t think the world’s reaction would be the same,” bitterly observes Shuruq Assad, spokesperson for the Palestinian journalists’ union. “I don’t wish any journalist to die, whether Israeli, Ukrainian, or Palestinian. Journalists should be protected regardless of the country they are in. »
A support campaign is launched on social networks to protect Anas Al-Sharif, under the hashtag #Protect_Anas.
Palestine Media Agency
