Israel’s War on The Truth

CrossFireArabia
Opinion
September 5, 2025

By Najla M. Shahwan

Israel’s military operation in Gaza, in the aftermath of the October 7 attack by Hamas, has become the deadliest, most dangerous conflict for journalists.

Reporting on the Gaza war has become increasingly perilous, with large numbers of journalists and other media personnel killed or deliberately targeted by Israeli armed forces.

Moreover, the Israeli Authorities have since the war began banned the entry of international journalists to Gaza, an unprecedented move in any other conflict in modern history.

It is a ban on the truth and a ban on reporting the facts.

It is the perfect recipe to fuel misinformation, deepening polarisation and dehumanisation.

While the foreign press has been banned from entering Gaza, Palestinian journalists there have been treated by Israel as legitimate military targets.

Palestinian journalists, whether classical “war correspondents” or, more dangerously, operate with varying degrees of independence have been among a precious few remaining actors capable of exposing illegality.

Over the past 22 months, the world has watched the war in Gaza unfold.

The Israeli military onslaught on the Strip continues nonstop, resulting in the killing of more than 65,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children and almost all of the 2.3 million residents displaced multiple times, struggling to survive the dual threats of targeted attacks and starvation.

Palestinian journalists killed, international reporters banned and members of press and influencers covering devastation in Gaza being silenced despite protection under international law.

In its war on the Gaza strip Israel has been running a special campaign for narrative control of how the world understands what was happening.

The vast majority of Palestinian journalists and social media influencers documenting, mass killing, starvation and other Israeli war crimes in Gaza have been killed since then in the deadliest conflict for journalists ever documented, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Even though it is illegal to target journalists, the “Palestinian journalists are being threatened, directly targeted and murdered by Israeli forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work.

By silencing the press – those who document and bear witness – Israel is silencing the war,” the CPJ said.

In Israel’s latest attacks, two more journalists, Rasmi Salem of Al Manara and Eman Al Zamli, were killed, bringing the total number of journalists killed since the war on the Palestinian enclave began to more than 270.

Earlier, on September 31, Islam Abed, a correspondent for Al Quds Today TV, was also killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City.

On August 25, five journalists were killedin a “double -tap” Israeli strike targeting Naser hospital in southern Gaza, which killed at least 21 people.

The journalists killed, all worked or freelanced for international media outlets, including Hossam Al Masri, a cameraman with Reuters, Mariam Abu Daqa, a freelance photojournalist with the Associated Press, and Mohammed Salama, a photographer for Al Jazeera.

Freelance journalists Ahmad Abu Aziz and Moas Abu Taha were also killed, while several other journalists were injured in the attack.

Earlier on August 10, another four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers were killed by a targeted Israeli strike on their tent outside Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

The Israeli army said it deliberately targeted the Al Jazeera crew – the correspondent Anas Al Sharif, who had reported on the war since its outset, the reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, the cameraman Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammed Noufal, a crew driver and cameraman.

The Israeli army claimed it had evidence that Sharif was a Hamas terrorist.

The CPJ and other organisations said that this claim is part of a pattern of misinformation, along with other cases where slain journalists have been labelled as Hamas fighters or operatives, and is without credibility.

Press freedom groups and journalists said that those killings are part of a campaign of intimidation to shut down vital reporting, which Israel has justified internationally with smears and false claims that the targets were undercover Hamas fighters.

To many people outside Gaza, the war flashes by as a doom scroll of headlines and casualty tolls and photos of screaming children, the bloody shreds of somebody else’s anguish but the true unimaginable scale of death and destruction is impossible to grasp, the details hazy and shrouded by internet and cell phone blackouts that obstruct communication, restrictions barring international journalists, extreme, often life-threatening challenges local journalist reporting from Gaza are facing.

Besides, local journalists inside Gaza face displacement, starvation, and extreme violence.

On August 21, 29 member states of the Media Freedom Coalition issued a statement calling for access to the Strip by foreign press and for Israel to ensure the safety of local journalists working inside Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to respect international law, emphasising the important role of independent media in covering “the reality of the conflict.”

Germany’s ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert demanded an investigation and access for international media to Gaza, while United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy also condemned the attacks, calling for the protection of journalists.

“We are appalled and shocked to see Israel continue to kill journalists with no accountability, as the world watches. It is critical for the international community to step up and take concrete action to ensure the safety of Gaza’s remaining journalists,” International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Director Scott Griffen said.

“As more journalists in Gaza are killed, fewer remain to carry on their work, which means we know less about what is actually happening on the ground.”

“The unabated killing of journalists during the course of this conflict has grave implications for journalists not only in Gaza, who have sacrificed so much and endured such unimaginable violence to cover this war – but also for journalists’ safety all over the world,” Griffen added.

Despite growing global condemnation and concerns over breaches of international law, Israel is continuing its military assault on Gaza and it is likely that more journalists will die as a result.

International journalists must independently report from Gaza and support their Palestinian colleagues who continue to do a heroic job at a heavy price.

The international community must act fast to ensure that journalists are kept safe and hold Israel to account for the deaths of all journalists whose killings may have been targeted. Journalists are civilians, and it is illegal to attack them in a war zone.

Reliable information about wars and conflicts is essential for the wellbeing of local populations and is necessary to enlighten the world on the forces behind wars and the toll on civilians.

The author writes for The Jordan Times.

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

Opinion

Netanyahu, Mount Hermon and Arab Silense

Heba
September 13, 2026

By Awni al-Rajoub

What is happening? What remains of the dignity of an Arab nation that stands before such a grave scene and then moves on as if nothing has happened?

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enter Syrian territory and reach the Mount Hermon area, forcibly and under the protection of occupation forces, without hesitation or shame, is not merely a passing provocation, nor a fleeting political maneuver that can be dismissed as media posturing.

It is a scene that encapsulates the extent of Israeli arrogance and disregard for all international rules, norms, and conventions.

What audacity! What kind of arrogance allows the head of the occupation government to enter the territory of a sovereign Arab state as if it were unclaimed land?

Who gave him the right? Who said that power grants its possessor the right to violate the borders of states? Who said that the occupation can impose its own law on the region, while others are required to abide by international law?

What is happening can no longer be glossed over or addressed with cold diplomatic language. There is an occupation that acts according to the logic of force, and there is an Arab silence that grows heavier and more painful.

Netanyahu did not enter Mount Hermon because he doesn’t know it’s Syrian territory. Nor did he cross the border because he misread the map.

He knows perfectly well where he stands, he knows perfectly well what this move means, and he knows that the message is not just for Syria.

The message is for the entire region.

A message that says Israel is ready to advance whenever it finds the way open, to impose a new reality by force, and to test the limits of Arab and international reaction each time.

And therein lies the tragedy. The problem is not only with the one advancing, but with the one who allows him to advance without paying a real political price. We have reached a point where the question has become more painful than the event itself:

Is there still an Arab nation?

A nation that sees the land of an Arab state violated, the borders of an Arab state transgressed, and the sovereignty of an Arab state trampled upon, and then finds nothing in the face of this scene but silence, statements, and positions that change nothing on the ground?

We don’t want random wars, military adventures, or empty slogans. But we do want at least one thing:

For the Arabs to take a stance commensurate with the magnitude of the danger.

A genuine political stance. A genuine diplomatic stance. A stance that makes the occupation understand that every transgression has a price, that the region is not without will, and that the Arabs are not so powerless.

What is happening today in Syria should not be viewed as an internal Syrian matter or an isolated incident.

It is a matter of Arab sovereignty.

If violating the borders of an Arab state becomes something that can be overlooked with silence, what prevents it from happening again elsewhere?

Today it’s Mount Hermon.

And tomorrow, what?

Where will this project end?

The most dangerous thing facing the nation is not only the strength of the enemy, but the nation’s habituation to retreating before it. For occupation to become commonplace. For raids to become routine. For incursions to become routine. That violations of sovereignty become mere news items that pass through the news bulletins and are then forgotten.

This is the true catastrophe. Nations are not only defeated when they lose their battles, but also when they lose sight of the gravity of what is happening to them.

Netanyahu’s incursion into Syrian territory in this manner should awaken a profound question within us:

What do we want for the future? Do we accept that the map of the region be drawn by force?

Do we accept that Arab borders become subject to change whenever one party possesses military power?

Do we accept that sovereignty becomes a mere word in statements, while facts on the ground are imposed by force?

And will we continue to stand idly by as this saga of Israeli arrogance unfolds before our very eyes?

For how long? It is time to state it clearly:

Israel does not act with such arrogance in a vacuum. It does so because it senses that the cost of defiance is low, that reactions are limited, that the Arab world is mired in its crises and disputes, and that every country is preoccupied with its internal affairs.

And here we must pause. Arab disputes must not be allowed to become an open opportunity for others. Nor must Arab divisions be a bridge for occupation to cross into more Arab lands. We are facing a moment that demands we ask ourselves honestly:

Where is the Arab decision? Where is the Arab will? Where is the ability to transform anger into action? Where is the capacity to utilize politics, diplomacy, law, economics, and all available means of pressure?

No one is asking the impossible. No one is asking the Arabs to go to war. But what is required is that the nation not remain a mere spectator. For prolonged silence in the face of arrogance ultimately becomes a green light.

And here I fear that a day will come when the question will no longer be:

Why did Netanyahu enter Mount Hermon?

But rather:

Why did we let him go even further?

The Arab nation’s brow is not only stained when its land is occupied, but also when it witnesses repeated aggression and lacks the will to stop it.

And the shame lies not in the nation’s weakness at any point in its history; Weakness can afflict nations.

But the true shame is for a nation to become accustomed to its weakness, and to treat humiliation as an unchangeable fate.

It is high time the Arab nation regained its self-confidence. To understand that the respect others have for it begins with its respect for its sovereignty. And to realize that Arab national security is not a slogan to be raised on special occasions, but a historical responsibility.

As for Netanyahu, he must understand that the region does not belong to him, that history will not grant him a deed to possess land that does not belong to him, and that military power, however great, cannot grant occupation perpetual legitimacy.

Mount Hermon is not just a mountain.

It is a symbol of land, sovereignty, borders, and dignity.

Therefore, what happened should not be treated as just another news item.

It must remain an open question for every Arab:

What is happening?

And what remains of our nation?

This opinion, written by Awni al-Rajoub, was published by the Arabic website Jo24 and reprinted in English in crossfirearabia.com

Opinion

Trumpaplooza! View from Amman

Saleem Ayoub Quna
September 11, 2026

By Saleem Ayoub Quna

Once again President Trump managed to highjack the spotlight as he delivered his keynote speech at the unconventional midterm Republican National Convention in Dallas last week, or at what some media outlets, appropriately, dubbed as the Trumpaplooza!

These media organizations named some candidates who said they preferred Trump to stay out of their own local campaigns, because they thought his interference would not be to their advantage! Other candidates deleted Trump’s name and/or picture from their previous campaign posts for the same reason! And some republican personalities abstained from going to the convention altogether!

Nevertheless, in his nearly two-hour long monologue, Trump came up with more than few original ideas and suggestions for his supporters which he thought would help the GOP candidates, to be elected or reelected, to the Senate and the House next November.

In a rare unheard of tactic to convince his supporters to vote for their candidates, he begged them to imagine that his name was on the ballot they would cast! What this actually meant that their names and identities are less important than that of his own! In other words, President Trump was really saying those candidates would be worth nothing were they not running on behalf of the Republican Party, which he controls and are one of his own many intellectual properties! It must feel awkward for some candidates who fall under this category!

Then comes the big bombshell which no one was expecting, namely the $5000 bonus to be paid for each adult (a registered voter) when and if the elections guaranteed a republican majority in both the Senate and the House!

But let’s dig a little bit further in the significance of the timing of this generous dividend! The difference between the payment (after or before) the elections can be viewed from more than one angel. And this must be very revealing for many Americans and those watching the American experience from other parts of the world!

From purely a Trumpean point of view it is just another business transaction, simple and clear!

Trump’s argument on this point would go something like this: “I can reward you, when and if I am satisfied with the work you have done for me! For I am the one who is running this political bonanza called the “midterm elections” campaign, and I am the one who gave you the chance to vote for my-would be supporters at the Senate and the House”!

Then, he might go on to say: “But I cannot pay you now simply because, I do not buy any fish that is still in the sea”!

But what President Trump is not saying is he first does not have this much cash “a trillion dollar” in his drawer, and that he does not trust every single “adult” who promises, he or she, would vote republican! Trump thinks, and he is right, that there could be some pretenders who would say something but do something else!

A third possibility could be that Trump’s bid would prevail and the republicans would have made it! And the day of payment would arrived, while Trump would not have cash yet! Here, Trump’s genius as a great businessman would come to the test and it will be the guessing game of the century!

But seriously, observers of the American scene under the Trump Presidency, and many Americans as well, must be wondering how on earth the politics of a great country like the US, could get stuck in such an unusual labyrinth of contradictions, where not so many can differentiate between reality and virtual reality, between incentive and bribery and between a hasty promise and commitment!!