Meanwhile on the International front....

Stipulating Side A is terrible does not equal saying Side B is not.

 

Side B may indeed be awful, but it ain't much to blame for meeting Side A on a battlefield that was entirely of Side A's choosing.

 

I’m not running a civil claims court and don’t feel the need to suss out who is 50.00000001 percent responsible. Both have an atrocious rap sheet after all these years and I no longer choose to participate in developing a binary rooting interest like it was the damn Pop Tarts Bowl.

That’s a gross oversimplification of twin humanitarian catastrophes, but my input isn’t going to be what solves it anyway. They are determined to do this to each other for all time.

 

You sure seem to be implying that is all Israel's fault and Hamas is not responsible for any of it.

 

Not at all. I'm saying that many, many journalists have been killed since October 7. An alarming number. 79 according to CPJ. More by some other counts.

And as a journalist I have a rooting interest in members of the press not being killed in war zones.

On one end of the spectrum is the notion that every journalist killed in Gaza is a Hamas operative. On the other end of the spectrum is the idea that the IDF is specifically targeting members of the press, which is a war crime.

Somewhere between those extremes lies the truth.

In the meantime, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 the number of journalists killed there is 17.

 

She ain’t wrong.

Oh, good Lord. Really?

I’m gonna have to come over there and plant a size 12 cowboy boot up your ass, huh?

 

[Shivering Chihuahua gif]
[/Shivering Chihuahua gif]

 

I certainly wouldn't go that far, but I don't think it's at all unreasonable to think that a lot of them are. Here are the first 10 entries on CPJ's list of journalists killed (they're presented in reverse order, so the first on this list is the most recent victim/casualty) ...

X: Camera operator for Al-Jazeera
X: Videographer working for Agence France-Presse (AFP)
X: Reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Quds Al-Youm broadcaster
X: Worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV
X: Cameraman for the Hamas-affiliated Quds Al-Youm TV/reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Quds feed
X: Photographer for the Hamas government-owned local newspaper and news agency Al-Rai
X: Sound engineer for the Hamas government-owned local radio
X: Deputy director of the Hamas government-owned local newspaper and news agency Al-Rai
X: Working for the privately owned Al-Istiklal newspaper
X: Director at the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV channel

 

Interesting for sure, but not indisputable.

Hamas is Gaza's largest employer, and own lots of those outlets, so plenty of folks are going to work for those Hamas-owned and operated papers and stations.

Are they journalists? Propagandists? Terrorists?

Wrong place / Wrong time?

Impossible to say.

I hope the IDF knows.

 

I'm not sure the IDF cares, not about those guys.

 

It is interesting to note, since Russia invaded Ukraine, less than 20 journalists have been killed. In Gaza, the number is closer to 80. That’s 4 times as many in about 1/8th the time.

I get it’s dangerous and I get the space is tighter, but at some point you gotta take the high ground.