In past blogs, I’ve discussed how the Trump-like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu had been declared politically dead in 2021, as he was ousted from power while facing multiple criminal charges. That is until late 2022 when he was resurrected from political obscurity because of a fortuitous set of circumstances. A group of extreme right politicians managed to win an election, whereupon they proceeded to invite Mr. Netanyahu to lead their cause.

Prime Minister Netanyahu with 16 years as Israel’s leader and his right-wing government partners of the Likud Party have worked hard for decades to kill off the prospect of a viable Palestinian state by expanding settlements in the West Bank and tightening the grip of occupation in Gaza.

For example, as per a Guardian report, “in 1993, there were about 110,000 settlers in the West Bank outside of occupied East Jerusalem. Now there are nearly 500,000, and the Israeli government wants to double that number.” (The West Bank is governed by the (PA) Palestinian Authority that’s secular and has a history of accepting the existence of Israel.)

As per a NY Times report, “The Palestinian territory of Gaza has been under a suffocating (16-year) Israeli blockade, backed by Egypt, since (the Iranian backed terrorist group) Hamas seized control of the coastal strip in 2007. The blockade restricts the import of goods, including electronic and computer equipment, that could be used to make weapons and prevents most people from leaving the territory.”

“More than two million Palestinians live in Gaza. The tiny, crowded coastal enclave has a nearly 50 percent unemployment rate, and Gaza’s living conditions, health system and infrastructure have all deteriorated under the blockade.”

Any way, it’s now official! As per the January 18, 2024 Guardian report by Peter Beaumont, “Israel’s prime minister has told the Biden White House that he rejects any moves to establish a Palestinian state when Israel ends its offensive against Gaza, and that all territory west of the Jordan River would be under Israeli security control.

In 2023 while in power again, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in partnership with Israel’s most far-right government in history, including fringe religious nationalists, Jewish supremacists and settler activists saw their popularity tank over several months because of their failed unpopular attempted autocratic coup against Israel’s judiciary and their colossal failure in preventing the Oct 7th Hamas attack on Israelis despite the Israeli government having been in possession of ample, accurate detailed, timely intelligence data gathered from their allies and from within. The prime minister has denied that he’d been aware of any prior warnings.

Recent polls show that Prime Minister Netanyahu has a popularity rating of 15%. Once he leaves office, he’s again facing multiple criminal indictments. He knows that 69% of Israelis want him to step down from power as soon as the war ends. In short, the Israeli Trump-like, authoritarian leaning prime minister benefits only if he can figure out how to remain in power for as long as possible while extending and expanding the war against Hamas in Gaza and any other enemies, deemed to be a threat to Israel’s security.

Meanwhile, there’s been a voluntary concerted effort to ensure that Israelis are sheltered from viewing TV images/ news reports regarding the devastation that’s happening in Gaza.

During Israel’s war against Hamas for these past 4 months, the Israeli government officials have denied that its military targets journalists, despite an unusually deadly pattern that has emerged. It seems that there’s a surprisingly high number of Palestinian journalists’ voices being killed off, literally and/ or imprisoned.

The Palestine News Agency reports journalist Mohammad Abu Hattab was killed in an Israeli strike on his home in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, along with eleven members of his family. This is the moment his colleagues responded to his death on air.

Copy video address

Watch on X

As per the December 21, 2023 Guardian report, “Israeli military accused of targeting journalists and their families in Gaza”  by Chris McGreal:

Excerpts:

“The Committee to Protect Journalists has accused the Israeli military of targeting journalists and their families in Gaza amid the highest death toll of media workers in any recent conflict.”

“The New York-based CPJ said at least 68 journalists and other media workers had been killed in Gaza, Israel and southern Lebanon since the Hamas cross-border attack on 7 October and subsequent Israeli assault.”

“More journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year,” it said.

“CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case, a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place. In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces officers before their family members were killed.”

“The journalist told Al Jazeera that he had received multiple phone calls from officers in the Israeli army instructing him to cease coverage and leave northern Gaza. Additionally, he received voice notes on WhatsApp disclosing his location,” it said.”

“The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders has warned that “journalism is in the process of being eradicated in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s refusal to heed calls to protect media personnel”.

“Reporters there have no safe refuge and no way of leaving. They are being killed one after another. Since 7 October, the Palestinian territory has been subjected to a veritable eradication of journalism,” it said.”

“The CPJ has previously noted that an Israeli airstrike killed eight members of the photojournalist Yasser Qudih’s family following a report by the pro-Israel pressure group HonestReporting suggesting Qudih and three other Gaza-based photographers had prior knowledge of the Hamas attack on Israel. The Israeli foreign ministry retweeted a claim that “AP, CNN, NY Times, and Reuters had journalists embedded with Hamas terrorists on October 7th massacre”. A tweet by a former Israeli ambassador to the UN and member of parliament, Danny Danon, called for their “elimination”.

“Major media outlets, including Reuters, rejected the claims,” said the CPJ. “HonestReporting subsequently withdrew the accusations, but its report prompted the Israeli prime minister’s office to tweet that the photographers were accomplices in ‘crimes against humanity’, and Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz to say they should be treated as terrorists.”

“Earlier this month, an Al Jazeera camera operator, Samir Abudaqa, was wounded in a drone strike and trapped in a UN school. When people attempted to rescue Abudaqa and take him for treatment, they too were shot. He died several hours later.”

“Human Rights Watch and other groups found that an IDF attack that killed Reuters journalists Issam Abdallah and injured six others in southern Lebanon was probably a deliberate assault by the IDF on civilians.”

“Israel denies that it targets journalists, saying it only targets Hamas.”

“Jodie Ginsberg, the CPJ president, called on Israel to be more transparent about the orders given to soldiers in dealing with media workers.”

“It’s hard for us to understand Israel’s attitude. It says that it doesn’t target journalists yet we have this deadly pattern. Because they will not release their rules of engagement, it’s hard for us to know what the terms are in which they’re viewing journalists who are obviously civilians and should never be targeted in war,” she said.”

See: List of journalists killed in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war/ Wikipedia

As per the January 18, 2024 Guardian report, “Israel added to list of ‘worst jailers of journalists’ for first time ”  by Chris McGreal:

Excerpts:

“Israel has joined a notorious band of authoritarian states with a history of imprisoning journalists by detaining Palestinian reporters without trial since the beginning of the latest war in Gaza.”

“A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released on Thursday said that for the first time Israel figures in its list of “worst jailers of journalists”, putting it on a par with Iran.”

“The worst offenders were China and Myanmar, 2 countries with a long history of suppressing free speech where each imprisoned more than 40 journalists in 2023. They were followed by Belarus, Russia and Vietnam.”

“Israel is in sixth place after the CPJ recorded 17 Palestinian journalists in its jails in December, the first time the country has featured among the worst offenders. It is now holding 19. Others were detained and released. Iran was also imprisoning 17 journalists.”

“Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ’s chief executive, said Israel’s inclusion on the list of detained journalists reflects a broader crackdown on free speech and criticism of the war in Gaza.”

“Israel’s standing in CPJ’s 2023 prison census is evidence that a fundamental democratic norm – press freedom – is fraying as Israel exploits draconian methods to silence Palestinian journalists.”

“The CPJ said Palestinian journalists are mostly held under the Israeli military’s powers to detain people in the occupied territories without trial or time limit. The practice, known as administrative detention, permits the army to arrest a person on suspicion alone. Some Palestinians have been held for years without charge.”

“The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said it is almost impossible to mount a defense against the detention.”

“The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them. This leaves the detainees helpless – facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted,” it said.

“The CPJ said the Palestinian journalists were among 320 reporters and other media workers imprisoned around the world. One in five were held without charge.”

“The detained Palestinian journalists include Alaa al-Rimawi, the director of a West Bank news agency, J-Media, which was banned by Israel on security grounds. The presenter of a popular radio phone-in show, Tarek el-Sharif, who the CPJ said “provided daily updates for his listeners on Israel’s military response, discussing airstrikes in Gaza and the Palestinian death toll with local callers”, was arrested in November and charged with incitement.”

“Others detained include journalists with a Ramallah-based television station, a freelance cameraman for Al Jazeera and Jordanian television, and a correspondent for a London-based press agency.”

“The arrests are part of a broader pattern of risks for journalists reporting the Israel-Gaza war. The CPJ says at least 83 media workers have been killed in Gaza, most of them Palestinian.”

“The CPJ said it has also documented multiple kinds of incidents of journalists targeted in Israel and Palestine, including “numerous assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship.”