Lebanese officials have said that two journalists were killed by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, bringing the total number of journalists killed since October 7 to 53.
The journalists worked for the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen. The media outlet said its correspondent, Farah Omar, was killed alongside cameraman Rabih Me’mari in the village of Tayr Harfa. Another civilian was reported killed in the strike, according to The New York Times.
The Israeli military claims it was targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and said it was aware of reports of journalists being killed in the strike. In a statement, the Israeli military appeared to shift the blame on the journalists for being where they were.
“We are aware of a claim regarding journalists in the area who were killed as a result,” the military said, according to AP. “This is an area with active hostilities, where exchanges of fire occur. Presence in the area is dangerous.”
The strike brings the total number of journalists killed by Israel in Lebanon since October 7 to three. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 46 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza, and four Israeli journalists were killed during the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. For comparison, CPJ has recorded 17 journalists killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion last year.
Is Israeli thinking, in this regard, kind of like: SHOOT THE MESSENGER?…
Do you really expect a plot facing anti aircraft missiles,flying at an altitude of 5,000 feet, at 500mph-can discern who is a journalist? A journalists life is no more or less valuable than any civilians.
That pilot is responsible for what he does. If he doesn’t know what and who is at the spot where he’s dropping a bomb or firing a cannon, that doesn’t magically erase his responsibility for his actions.
Israel may want to walk back claims that they use “high precision smart bombs.” Otherwise, the pilot or his bosses are the only people to blame. …Oopsy. What’s that?
That Israeli pilot got mixed up and used Russian bombs? …Nonesense. Russian bombs only work on maternity hospitals.
Like the pilot of the Apache helicopter who admitted to being confused before lighting up Israeli civilians, along with combatants. No clear orders from home office. Just light them up.
That is war-civilians get killed.Blame Hamas and Hezbollah for initiating this mess. Britain justly firebombed German cities,US firebombed and nuked Japanese cities-don’t start wars and your civilians will be safer.
Blame Israel for initiating the mess in 1948, the subsequent 75 years of occupation, the 16 years of blockade, the creation of the concentration camp, known as Gaza. Dude, firebombing and nuking civilians, INTENTIONALLY, is a war crime as well as a crime against humanity. I went into a rage when I read that the navigator of the bomber that nuked Nagasaki used as a fixed point a CHURCH STEEPLE! Prior crimes against humanity does not justify doing the same.
So you are mad at the navigator. How about the person who ordered the bombing? You OK with that guy?
True, but if the journalists are embedded with troops that plane is attacking their death is not the responsibility of the pilot.
All the deaths, including the deaths of the troops in question, are the responsibility of the pilot. They may or may not be justifiable, but they’re the pilot’s responsibility. He’s the one who pulled the trigger.
Playing a little wordsmith game here. OK the pilot is responsible for the deaths because he pulled the trigger. But he is not accountable because he was firing at a position given to him by others. The soldier who pulls the lanyard or on modern guns pushed the button to fire an artillery gun is also responsible for the deaths when shell lands. If the round malfunctions, falls short and kills civilians is he accountable for their deaths? Or is the engineer who built the shell filling machine accountable since his machine malfunction.
The idea of “accountability” implies someone one must “account to.” And yes, that pilot is certainly “accountable” … to someone. Regardless of to whom he’s accountable, and on what metrics, he’s 100% responsible for doing the things he does.
Some people do. They think war is like playing a video game. It is not. Split second life and death decisions are being made. Mistakes happen.
War reporters have a risky job.
For journalists within range of the IDF, it’s always wartime.
https://cpj.org/reports/2023/05/deadly-pattern-20-journalists-died-by-israeli-military-fire-in-22-years-no-one-has-been-held-accountable/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/11/shireen-ab-akleh-israeli-forces-kill-al-jazeera-journalist
Chris Hedges has reported from war zones and has come close to being killed. He has been captured and beaten. He admits to having PTSD from those experiences.
So much credit to Dave DeCamp for keeping us posted on all the terrible news coming through the war machine. It must be very hard to live in that world all day every day, but he stays with it. Please take care of yourself, Dave.
Israel is so nice. When it says it works hard to prevent collateral damage, it’s describing how precisely it kills journalists.
pesky journalists, always getting in the way