Maarten Boudry
For three years, Israel has repeated that Hamas and PIJ are disguising as "journalist", "doctors", "healthcare workers" and "paramedics", because they know that this disguise offers them some measure of protection, and that their death will cause outrage among credulous westerners. Hamas was right: all Western media just lapped up the stories about the record numbers of "journalists" and "doctors" killed, keeping almost weekly tallies and never asking any questions. And Israel was also right: Now that the war is over, Hamas and PIJ are gradually releasing lists of obituaries, identifying DOZENS of these so-called "journalists" and "doctors" as fighters. And what do the Western media do? Nothing. Just deafening silence. "Who cares? Let’s just move on to the next anti-Israel calumny." I cannot even begin to describe how angry this makes me. This is an unforgivable failure of journalism, and one that would never be tolerated in any other conflict. I approached several journalists personally and urged them to report on these revelations. To no avail. In a way, you can't blame them. The professional and social repercussions of publishing any story that is (or might be perceived as) “helping” the Israeli narrative are not to be underestimated. *** At least 18 Gazans killed during the war who were reported to be healthcare workers — including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other employees of Gaza hospitals or the Hamas-run Health Ministry — have since also appeared in lists published by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad identifying them as members of the groups. Earlier this month, the Israeli [military provided details on 12 soccer players killed in the Gaza Strip during the war who it said have been identified as terror operatives, slamming their international portrayal as innocent athletes. Seven of the 12, including one who was a FIFA referee, were acknowledged as members by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. On June 25, 2024, Médecins Sans Frontières announced the death of Fadi Jihad al-Wadiya, a 33-year-old physiotherapist and father of three who had joined the organization in 2018. [...] Then in February of this year, Islamic Jihad identified al-Wadiya as a member of the organization, describing him as an assistant in its military manufacturing unit. [...] Al-Wadiya continues to be listed by MSF as one of its employees killed during the war, on an “In Memoriam” page. https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-death-notices-show-some-so-called-health-workers-were-operating-for-terror-groups/