The conflict in the Middle East has given rise to individuals who feel impassioned to express their support for Palestine against Israel. Now, newsroom staffers and activists across the country are putting left-leaning pressure on outlets to cover the Jewish state in a more critical light.
A slew of journalists joined together to urge media outlets to reconsider their journalistic stance on Israel, writing in a letter that “Israel’s devastating bombing campaign and media blockade in Gaza threatens newsgathering in an unprecedented fashion. We are running out of time.”
“As reporters, editors, photographers, producers, and other workers in newsrooms around the world, we are appalled at the slaughter of our colleagues and their families by the Israeli military and government,” the letter continued.
“We are writing to urge an end to violence against journalists in Gaza and to call on Western newsroom leaders to be clear-eyed in coverage of Israel’s repeated atrocities against Palestinians.”
The conflict in the Middle East came to a head when Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack against the Jewish state on October 7, resulting in the death of at least 1,200 Jews and the abduction of 200 more. As a result, Israel declared war on Hamas and has been carrying out military operations in the area in an effort to rid the area of Hamas militants, according to Fox News Digital.
Israel’s dealings in Gaza are what apparently led many journalists to join together in the letter, suggesting that the Jewish state has been overtly committing “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” However, these same journalists did not include that Hamas’ center of operations is within an underground tunnel system beneath the Strip’s largest hospital, allowing the group to hide behind vulnerable civilians.
It has also been established that Hamas uses Gazans as human shields in its fight against Israel.
The letter from the journalists went on to lay out the “atrocities” committed by Israel and referenced dozens of journalists who have been killed in the conflict. However, the letter only made mention of Hamas once and suggested that the war has been inaccurately contextualized, even though Hamas was the group to ignite the conflict early last month.
A report published last week noted that a CNN reporter who was apparently covering the conflict in the Middle East leading up to Hamas’ attack against Israel was fired after it was discovered that he had alleged ties to the terrorist group. A video clip was pushed to social media that appeared to show Hassan Eslaiah riding on a motorbike, carrying a grenade in his hand.
Abdallah Fayyad, a former editorial board member at the Boston Globe, said, “My hope for this letter is to push back on the culture of fear around this issue, and to make decision-makers and reporters and editors think twice about the language that they use.”
Fox News Digital noted that journalists who supported the letter represent the Daily Beast, Chicago Sun-Times, HuffPost, the Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, Bloomberg, the New Yorker, and New York magazine.
Last week, the letter was apparently updated to remove a signer with the Associated Press. Though the identity of the journalist was not removed, the AP suspended Issam Adwan from covering the conflict in Gaza after it was found that he was posting anti-Israel content on his social media page.
The AP did not respond to a request for comment, per Fox News Digital.
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