Al Jazeera Media Network demanded Saturday that the international community and legal institutions punish Israeli officials for crimes committed against its correspondents and staff in the Gaza Strip, the latest of which was the killing of cameraman Ahmed Washah.
The network affirmed its intention to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes.
It came in a statement by the network following the killing of the Al Jazeera Mubasher cameraman in an Israeli strike that targeted a house in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
The network said it condemns the killing of Washah, noting that his brother, Mohammed, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, was killed in an Israeli strike two months earlier.
It added that Ahmed’s killing brings the number of Al Jazeera Media Network staff killed in Gaza since October 2023 to 12.
The network denounced “the continuation of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against its correspondents and staff in Gaza.”
It renewed its demand that the international community and relevant legal institutions take urgent practical measures to punish the Israeli officials involved in the grave crimes, and to adopt deterrent mechanisms to stop the targeting of journalists.
Al Jazeera affirmed its determination to take all legal measures to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes, while stressing its commitment to continuing to cover events in the enclave, despite the Israeli army’s attempts to silence the voice of truth and its continued targeting of journalists and photographers working with the network. Anadolu
According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, 262 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, one of the highest recorded tolls worldwide for the targeting of journalists during conflicts.
In a statement on May 3, the office said the toll reflects, in its assessment, a systematic policy aimed at silencing the Palestinian voice and preventing facts from reaching the world.
It added that 50 journalists had been detained in harsh conditions, in violation of international laws guaranteeing the protection of journalists, while three journalists remain missing due to the Israeli army’s actions, raising serious concerns about their fate.
More than 420 journalists have also suffered varying injuries, including serious wounds that led to amputations and permanent disabilities, according to the office.
This article was written on 28 February, 2024 at the apex of the Israeli genocide in Gaza on countercurrents.org. Not content with their atrocities, Israeli soldiers posted their havoc online for all to see. The videos are revealing for their depravity.
Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, now fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was so embarrassed with the videos shown on the social media posted by his soldiers in Gaza, he issued a communique instructing his men and women euphemistically not to “film revenge videos”.
These videos have shown soldiers in various situations as dehumanizing Palestinians, raiding their homes, rummaging their drawers, sitting on their tables and going through their underwear in front of the camera while laughing about the fact. They have displayed torture and humiliation not befitting a “professional army”, as they like to call themselves.
Halevi’s comments have been across the media, locally in Israel and internationally. Yet they don’t seem to be making much impact, for the videoclips that have already been posted are retweeted while new ones continue to be splashed across the social media.
The Gaza war has come to be a fascination for Israeli soldiers, a tough series of battleground in the 265-kilometer stretch they’ve never experienced first-hand as they do today. Most of their wars on Gaza have been from the air, this time it is on-ground.
Indeed, the videos show a disturbed Israeli mind. Are the soldiers fighting in Gaza or looking at negligees and bras of women who run aways from their homes and/or were killed by Israeli bombers?
The ground battle has been so hard on them as nearly 3000 soldiers needed to be examined by mental health officers since 7 October the Israeli army reveals and this figure is likely to go up as the conflict intensifies. This is while 2000 soldiers in the “combat zone” need psychiatric treatment says Yekhiel Levechhitz of the clinical department of mental illnesses in the Israeli army.
The heel thief
Imagine dangling a pair of heels in front of the camera? This is what an Israeli soldier did as he posted a video of himself with the shoes after he looted a house raided by the Israeli army.
In a state of excitement, he says these pair of heels, shining white, are for his fiancé for their upcoming engagement party.
Israeli soldiers are raiding houses as if they are their own and nobody can stop them.
An Israeli soldier gifts his wife a pair of heels he looted from a displaced Palestinian family in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/ea3VxmLDSC
Six Israeli soldiers play cards on a prayer mat in a building they took in Al Shati Camp east of Gaza.
It seems they are taking time off from their arrests and vandalism. With plastic cups around, they seem to be playing whilst gambling at the same time.
The prayer mat underneath maybe a strong signal of their distaste to the Palestinian owners and their religion.
🔴🔴عاجل و هاااام 🔴🔴
آخر ظهور للعقيد " نفيري " ومجموعته في احد منازل #غزة وهم يلتقطونسيلفي في غرفة نوم مع علاقي داخلي لسيدة فلسطينية.. بعدها تم نسف المنزل بهم ودفنوا تحت الانقاض🥴
الي حاب اعرف.. من منهم حيبعث يوم القيامة لابس العلاقي الاحمر.. العقيد والا الحراسة🥴🥴… pic.twitter.com/gahSuyCicn
Israel soldiers pose for a selfie in a bedroom of a Palestinian family that was forced to leave their home under Israeli gunfire.
Six soldiers with their guns pose whilst one holds a negligee as another points his finger to it. Is this supposed to mean something?
Their secret stays with them. Shortly after, it was reported the wrecked house was bombed by the Palestinian resistance and all of the soldiers were killed and presently lie under the wreckage like the thousands of Gazans that lie underneath the rubble of their bombed houses.
Although the last point might be doubted since according to Defense Ministry statistics, 17 percent of Israelis soldiers who are killed do so through friendly-fire.
‘Depravity’
Israeli soldiers whilst not fighting Izz Al Din Al Qassam and Saraya Al Quds fighters appear to like raiding Palestinian homes.
One blogger described these #Israeli soldiers as “depraved and degenerate”. He said these soldiers “expose their depravity” and make “fun of the injured” whilst dehumanizing the dead and displaced #Palestinians which they killed.
How does a “depraved” soldier hold balloons with a big smile whilst someone in the background lies tied, gagged and blindfolded on the floor?
In another post, the blogger asks: “How rotten must your entire (Israeli) society be for you to pose with such pride near underwear of women you murdered,” and adds “they don’t fear criticism because this sort of sexual intimidation is encouraged in Israel. Makes me feel sick.”
Expose, name & shame these #Israeli soldiers dehumanising #Palestinians : keep a record for when there’s a big legal case against all the crimes of @idf .. every single one of them pic.twitter.com/b91VehTtXG
The Israeli army may say they are playing with the souls of Palestinians in Gaza, but they are wrong.
In this image, five Israeli soldiers talk to a doll in a kufiyah they obviously stole from a house they just raided.
Its graphic: The contour of the soldiers, their facial expression, the surroundings; the image says it all, the soldiers appear to be happily playing with the plastic doll that was placed at the back of their military Jeep amidst an environ of destruction and mayhem.
These depraved degenerate #Israeli soldiers too. Expose their depravity. Making fun of injured, dehumanised & dead #Palestinians & holding lingerie of Palestinian women, either displaced or likely killed by them. @idf are devoid of any humanity pic.twitter.com/yw3um2YWVm
Not satisfied with the raids on people’s houses, Israeli soldiers, and this is coming from the so-called most moral army in the world, as if this not a great joke, a red negligee is displayed full-frontal on an armored vehicle.
One blogger expresses her disdain and western hypocrisy of what they see in front of them.
Why is this Israeli soldier sleeping in a baby’s crib for? This is a selfie; the soldier took of himself while pretending to sleep in the baby’s crib. It makes you ask: Where is the baby now, where is his family, are they still alive, displaced may, have they been killed?
The final image is taken in one of the houses in Khan Younis, the second largest city in the Gaza Strip. This is where the Israeli army have been held up for the last 2-3 months, unable to overcome the resistance despite their mighty airpower.
Khan Younis is below the center of Gaza, and the rest of the outskirts of the city to the east, is putting up stiff resistance to Israeli soldiers who are getting either killed or maimed and injured by the day and as testified to by the Israeli hospitals.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that “reciprocal security” is the “ceiling” of negotiations with Israel.
“The ceiling of negotiations with the Israeli enemy is reciprocal security, and there is no other ceiling,” he said in a televised speech.
He called for giving priority to halting the Israeli assaults, Israel’s withdrawal from all Lebanese territory, the return of prisoners, the return of the displaced to their areas and reconstruction.
“Israel’s project in Lebanon was to eliminate Hezbollah socially, militarily, and culturally, which means eliminating a large segment of the Lebanese people through killing, displacement, and relocation in order to facilitate the annexation of Lebanon,” Qassem said.
“We thwarted the Greater Israel project, and it has been unable to control and establish itself on our land,” he added.
The Hezbollah chief said his group carried out 3,185 operations against Israel since March 2, with a daily average of 30 attacks.
“Any project to disarm Hezbollah will not succeed, and this scheme has failed,” he said.
Tensions have continued to flare along the Lebanese-Israeli border despite a recent understanding between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending their military conflict that erupted after Israel and the US launched attacks against Iran on Feb. 28.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said that ending Israeli attacks across regional fronts, particularly in Lebanon, is among the main objectives of the memorandum of understanding expected to be signed between Tehran and Washington on Friday.
Israeli officials, however, have indicated that military operations in Lebanon will continue despite the agreement, raising doubts about prospects for a de-escalation on the Lebanese front.
Israel has been waging an offensive on Lebanon since March 2 that has left thousands killed and wounded and more than 1 million displaced, according to the latest official figures.
Israel occupies areas in southern Lebanon, some for decades and others since the previous war between 2023 and 2024. During the current campaign, Israeli forces pushed more than 10 kilometers into Lebanon. Anadolu
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday “strongly” condemned Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese capital when the US and Iran are nearing an agreement to end hostilities.
“I strongly condemn today’s Israeli strikes on Beirut,” Guterres wrote on US social media company X. “The strikes took place despite the ceasefire & at a time when the US & Iran are expected to reach an agreement that will pave the way to a peaceful resolution of this conflict.”
He noted that the conflict has had a “devastating impact on the world’s economy.”
The secretary-general expressed hope for a “successful outcome” to the diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, and urged all parties to show “maximum restraint at this crucial moment.”
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a peace agreement with Iran remains on track for signing within a “few hours,” despite the Israeli strike on Beirut. He said the attack “should not have happened” and urged all sides to “stand down.”
Officials in Iran have disputed the timeline, with Iranian media saying Tehran has not yet taken a final decision.
At least seven people were killed and several others when the Israeli army launched airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and areas in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese media said.
The Israeli army has continued targeting Lebanon since early March when Hezbollah retaliated to the Iran war, killing 3,800 people and displacing more than 1 million. Anadolu
In the race for global dominance, America, as always, is committed to playing the political game as the world’s policeman. It believes it has the right to manage its diplomatic and economic affairs in a way that secures its leading position, regardless of whether the targeted country has a legitimate defense or the pretext used to launch its strikes. The objective is paramount, and the target, often due to its nuclear advancements, is seen as an obstacle to America’s complete dominance.
The crucial question remains: What are the future implications of a new world order that will differ from its predecessor in both the number of poles and the size of the participating countries in alliances? Everyone is vigilant and eager to secure a piece of the global pie, aiming to maintain international standing, security, and open, free competition, all in pursuit of economic strength and astute policy.
In reality, Iran has never been an enemy of America, but the USA considers it its strongest competitor due to its possession of nuclear weapons—the same weapons possessed by Pakistan, Russia, North Korea, and others. Iran is currently under American scrutiny, and there has been, and continues to be, talk of a limited strike. In the language of politics, every word has a hidden meaning that cannot be understood superficially. “Limited” could refer to a small strike, perhaps targeting a sensitive location, or it could be a verbal threat indicating America’s seriousness about launching an attack on Iran at any moment. Caution is necessary because such attacks have international repercussions and provoke international reactions. We don’t believe America will repeat the same strike against Iran as it did against Iraq if it hasn’t carefully considered its options.
Iran possesses a silent political language that conceals the reality of its possession of weapons of mass destruction. What some newspapers publish may only represent a fraction of what remains undisclosed. For example, the “Whale” torpedo, specifically designed to destroy American warships, represents perhaps the most crucial element of a comprehensive defense system. According to Israeli estimates, the “Whale” torpedo weighs approximately 500 kilograms and operates underwater at extremely high speeds. To alleviate the burden on American aircraft carriers, Israel assesses that a single torpedo cannot destroy an aircraft carrier unless Iran employs precision operations. Israel’s concerns were evident in Netanyahu’s statement that Israel is facing difficult circumstances. This is understandable, given its gamble on redrawing the map of the Middle East, a gamble that risks failure. The international community will not remain passive, and repeated American aggression against peaceful nations will not go unpunished as before. Governments have reached a level of awareness sufficient to rise up in defense of their borders and territories. Iran will not be the only one affected, as the objective is an existential conflict that will allow Trump to secure his place in history.
The state of the Arabs today is no less lamentable than it was yesterday, when Iraq found itself mired in a sectarian war fueled by external forces, aimed at destroying its prestige and preventing any progress. America achieved its goals and plans, even though Bush, then president, implicitly admitted his mistake towards the Iraqis. The target was not a nuclear weapon, but a regime that had become a threat, leading to increased pressure on Middle Eastern countries. This occurred amidst a deliberate and even explicit fragmentation of the region, normalization of relations with certain countries, and their sponsorship of attacks like those of September 11, 2001, which targeted the World Trade Center in the United States.
America’s expenditure of dollars on the newly named Department of War will only add to its burdens. The country is already suffering from internal economic problems and social ills, issues that Trump has neglected, giving them the same attention he has devoted to his war agenda. Meanwhile, the international community is increasingly turning away from such dark policies. The Iranian episode in the global arena is being orchestrated through statements, pronouncements, and verbal sparring, all aimed at disseminating information as mere rhetoric, unreliable for uncovering the whole truth. Some weapons that Iran has not disclosed remain a mysterious enigma, threatening the stability of neighboring countries and those hosting American bases. Should America strike Iran, the entire scene would escalate into a third world war, leading to further political attrition and economic collapse. Statistics show a significant decline in maritime trade, and militias would become active on the borders of countries that have not taken a clear stance on global events. Being a friend of America does not exempt a country from being drawn into conflict, even under the flimsiest of pretexts. International law has been shaped to serve the Zionist-American vision of global hegemony, and membership in the United Nations will not alter this reality. The language of engagement today is the language of force, not negotiation and restraint. The weapons used in wars may not be limited to conventional arms; they may include biological weapons, ideological weapons, and other types that remain undisclosed until the last moment. This is because the cards of the international game are never fully revealed, and the element of surprise is always present. Every country has its own foreign policy and international stances. However, the blame lies with the Arab states that have succumbed to the aggression that devastated Gaza and destroyed its infrastructure. Every action has a reaction, and those who participated in the barbarity of the aggression against the Gaza Strip and merely condemned it will not escape the consequences of a third war, should one erupt.
Systems are not preserved through silence; rather, they collapse through their own inaction, cowardice, and humiliation. The next war, should it erupt, will bring with it many new realities that will lead to the emergence of a new world order, one that shows no mercy to the weak. The weak are those whose economies are fragile, whose people’s awareness is low, and whose workforce is neither serious nor aware of the magnitude of the stakes that await them. The world will inevitably witness a transformation that will alter perceptions, shift power dynamics, and tip the scales in favor of those who deserve it, without sentimentality or favoritism. Instead, there will be justice for just causes, because global change begins with an act of aggression and ends with a balance of power.
Opportunities.
The details of a limited strike, should it occur, will determine the new roadmap. Focusing on the initial strike will clarify the initial ambiguity before any attack.
Regardless of Trump’s aggressive reactions, whether towards the media or his opponents, his racism in some situations has been blatant. While Trump’s approach to managing affairs is troubling, it has also presented an opportunity for those working closely with him. By observing his habits and reactions, his adversaries can deduce information that allows them to manipulate or control him. Despite their success in this regard, no one can underestimate the difficulty of steering him in the same direction the following day, as Michael Wolff testifies in his book, “Fire and Fury: The Trump White House.”
Can Iran discern Trump’s seriousness from his jest if the matter concerns the outbreak of a third war, the duration and scope of which are unknown unless Trump decides to end it? Time will tell.
Dr. Samira Bitamis an Algerian writer. This is a translated version of an article she write for the Al Rai Al Youm website
CrossFireArabia
