The Western media are failing Gaza

Francis Ghilès, Non-resident Senior Fellow at CIDOB, pays tribute to the Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif, who was assassinated by the Israel Defence Force after he posted a powerful statement on journalism. He argues that the deliberate targeting of journalists in Gaza, combined with Israel’s ban on international reporters, reveals a hypocritical stance by Western governments and media who are subservient to the US and fail to hold Israel accountable for the devastating human and physical cost of the conflict: “According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in the US Civil War, World War I, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the US wars in Afghanistan combined. While most Western media outlets publicly criticise and campaign for journalists harassed or imprisoned by adversaries like Russia, China, or Iran, they are largely silent when it comes to Israel.”