Israel’s Defense Forces [IDF] bombed Gaza City Building that houseS the Associated Press [AP], Al Jazeera and other media outlets, coming as a “shock” to AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt. “We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing the AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza,” said Pruitt. Pruitt knows that no one’s immune to collateral damage in a war zone, acting like Israel is supposed to pick-and-chose which buildings get targeted. Only in an Israeli-Gaza war does the AP complain about how war can disrupt normal business in their news bureau. But when Hamas decided, for whatever reason, to start shooting rockets at Israel May 10, it started another senseless war when in comes collateral damage. Knowing the dangers of aerial bombardment, AP should know there are no safe havens.
Foreign governments and the media need to focus on the decision made by 54-year-old Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and 65-year-old Hamas Chairman of the Political Bureau Khaled Meshaal to go to war with Israel. Both obviously knew the consequences to Gaza residents and all kinds of businesses, including the domestic and foreign press. Press agencies act like how heinous of the Israelis to bomb a building that houses journalists or, as the case may be, Hamas propagandists that use respected businesses as human shields to run their operations. Reporting on the collateral damage, Hamas media reports only about the women and children killed in the battle but not about why Haniyeh and Meshaal would risk everyone’s lives and property to start a new war with Israel. Looks like they both believe their own propaganda fed daily to Gaza residents that Hamas will conquer Israel.
Recent polls indicate that most Gaza residents believe that Hamas is one tunnel or rocket away from returning Palestinians to Israel, something they lost in Israel’s war of independence in 1949. Arabs living in Israel before the 1949 war of independence were told by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, that they would conquer Israel at some later time. All subsequent wars against Israel, including the 1967 Six Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War, and, most recently, Hamas 2014 seven-week Gaza War, ended badly for Arab states and Gaza and West Bank residents. In all of those wars, including the so-called Intifadas in 1987 and 2000, Palestinians lost mass casualties all because their leadership continues to seek to destroy Israel. Hamas has not accepted any of the past peace arrangements, continuing its 1987 charter, written by its founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, to destroy the Jewish state.
Watching the death and destruction mount in Gaza, not to mention the damage from Hamas rockets in Israel, foreign news organizations should evacuate journalists if they believe the war zone endangers their personnel. Once the bombs and rockets start flying, there’s no place that’s truly a safe haven in a war zone. No one at the AP or any other news sites should be surprised by the risks when bombs-and-rockets are raining over the territory. “This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen APA journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully were able to evacuate them in time,” Pruitt said. Pruitt knows there are no safe haves in a war zone. Pruitt knew May 10 that another war broke out but chose to keep AP journalists in place, despite the risks. If the latest skirmish goes for much longer, Gaza will be in ruins.
Haniyeh and Meshaal know what they’re doing when they start a war with Israel. Gaza residents report the horror living in a war zone created by their leaders, deciding the time was right to start the latest in a repetitive string of self-destructive wars with Israel. Some Gaza residents think things will be different this time around. Polls of residents show that they support the war with Israel because they’ve been told that they’re close to conquering the Jewish state. When Hamas went to war with Israel in the past, it was because they ran out of cash to run the government. Gulf Arab states have run donors conferences to raise cash for Hamas, especially after decimating the Gaza Strip going to war against Israel. “The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” Pruitt said, knowing AP reporters will continue their assignments.
AP and other media outlets will continue to report on the body count and property damage in Gaza. What the press doesn’t report on is what Haniyeh and Meshaal hope to accomplish, either the complete destruction of Gaza or their unending propaganda that they’re on the verge of conquering Israel. “It uses tall buildings in Gaza for multiple military purposes such as intelligence gathering, planning attacks, command and control, and communications,” said Israeli Defense Forces [IDF]. “When Hamas uses a tall building for military purposes, it comes a lawful military target,” countering the press narrative that the buildings are only used by credentialed news organizations. Media organizations reporting on the war zone should focus on what Hamas hopes to gain by pressing on with the latest fiasco. Pressure must be brought on Hamas leaders to stop the latest madness.
