No sooner had I written about the tremendous media double standard regarding the death of one Arab journalist in Israel over another than the Biden administration doubled down on what’s already an offensive narrative. This week, Israel acknowledged the death of Palestinian Arab-American al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu-Akleh, was likely because of an Israeli bullet in the midst of a heated gun battle between its troops and Palestinian Arab terrorists, and that she was likely hit accidentally in the crossfire as the terrorists used the journalist for cover from which they sprayed indiscriminate fire at Israeli troops.
Not that anyone would expect that to be the end of the story, no. Although while more than 60 other journalists have been killed around the world this year alone, the death of Abu-Akleh is by far the most reported and celebrated. Literally. She’s become a “Palestinian martyr” and poster child for allegations of Israel’s deliberate targeting of Arab journalists, which is nonsense.
As if unable to control itself and add fuel to the fire, the State Department called upon Israel to review its live fire protocol in the heat of battle, disregarding the dozens of other journalists that have been killed this year alone, and the fact that another Arab-Israeli journalist was killed this week in another incident of the epidemic of Arab-on-Arab violence.
Nothing makes sense about that at all from a logical perspective. It could have been someone speaking out of turn, but it wasn’t. The White House backed this statement. After its own investigation and that of Israel, the US injected itself into a situation that has been investigated more than any other death of any journalist in the past two years, at least. The US knows that the Israeli army operates at the highest level of integrity, facing real threats of war and terror on many fronts, and that when mistakes are made Israel has its own internal protocol to investigate and makes changes as needed.
As a result, after calling upon Israel to review its procedures in battle, one journalist actually pressed the White House spokeswoman as to whether the administration had their backs: “The administration continues to talk about accountability, but there hasn’t been any. There have been no charges. What is the Biden administration going to do to press for accountability? What steps are going to be taken?”
This came on the heels of a previous question about not holding Israel accountable to which the White House spokeswoman responded, “We strongly condemn this killing, as we have for the past several months. Ms. Abu-Akleh was an inspiration to millions and a friend to many in the U.S. government. Her death is a great loss and a tragedy.”
One wonders how many other journalists’ deaths the White House has condemned, whether accidentally as the case of Abu-Akleh, or those actually targeted among the dozens of others dead this year alone. By playing into this, the White House adds to the narrative that Israel disrespects and even targets journalists, making it unsafe for them to operate in Israel.
Other than being patently false, Israel has a hyper-free press that’s open even to journalists from agencies that have a rabidly anti-Israel bias. The one exception is that Israel still does have a military censor through which journalists are required to clear certain reports due to very real national security threats. Israel is the safest and most free country in the entire Middle East, and much of the world, from which to report. It’s why so many international news agencies have bureaus in Jerusalem, and that their reporters often cover stories in adjacent countries from the safety of Israel.
Now, the White House has built up a false narrative that the journalists sitting in their plush seats will feed into about Israel allegedly being unsafe and indeed targeting journalists. Maybe they should set up a safe space for the traumatized White House journalists. We wouldn’t want the death of one journalist in Israel (out of dozens around the world) to create a trauma, or God forbid bias, in their reporting.
Israel’s response was clear: respectfully, butt out. It rejected the Biden administration's call to review its protocol regarding the use of live-fire. Prime Minister Lapid addressed this succinctly: “No one will dictate our live-fire instructions to us when we are fighting for our lives. I will not let a fighter in the IDF who defended his life under fire from terrorists be prosecuted just so that we will receive applause abroad.”
Lapid also affirmed that Israel is “committed to the freedom of the press and has the strictest live-fire regulations in the world,” adding “Israel has expressed its sorrow over the journalist’s death. This is a tragedy that happened in the middle of a heavy-fire incident by terrorists. The IDF never deliberately shoots at innocent people, our fighters have the full backing of the Israeli government and its people.”
It’s no coincidence that the Torah portion read in Jewish communities around the world this week begins with the directives, “When you go to battle on your enemy.” It’s instructive on two levels. First, wars happen. They are Biblically justified, even necessary, because evil exists and there are evil people waging war on innocent victims. Second, there are legitimate ways of going to war. The Torah/Bible serves as the guidebook about how to live in all aspects of life, including the obligations in war. Self-defense is not just a right, it’s an obligation. But it’s not without rules of engagement, even when the enemy does not live by the same standard.
Israel always has to be prepared for war to defend our country, our families, and our people. And Israel, because of the Biblical standard and morality which it represents, has very strict guidelines. The White House, its spokeswoman, and the State Department would do well to learn and internalize this reality, even when mistakes are made. And they and their media cohorts would do well to understand that by focusing on the death of Abu-Akleh at the exclusion of all the dozens of other journalists who have been killed, they are giving a pass and turning a blind eye to places in the world where being a journalist is actually dangerous, and their deaths and threats to them are not accidental.