Gaza Genocide: Lack of Solidarity with Colleagues

Neither German media nor German unions have contacted the Palestinian Journalists‘ Union in the past 22 months. It’s still possible.

Dieser Artikel erschien auch in deutsch. (Zur deutschen Version)

As early as February 12, 2024, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) announced that 120 – or almost ten percent – of its approximately 1,300 members had been killed.¹ In the first ten weeks after October 7, more journalists were killed than ever before in a single country in the course of an entire year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).² “Gaza is a graveyard for journalists,” the German newspaper taz said at the beginning of the year.³ And in April, the Watson School for International and Public Affairs, part of the renowned Brown University, published a report stating that more journalists were killed in Gaza than han the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined. Therefore, Gaza is, “quite simply, the worst ever conflict for reporters”.⁴ In addition, according to the PJS, hundreds of colleagues were injured and at least 125 journalists were arbitrarily placed in administrative detention by Israel, many of whom were demonstrably tortured.⁵ In the face of this unprecedented level of deadly violence against press and media workers, one would expect empathy and a wave of solidarity with the affected colleagues on the ground. This is all the more so since Israel largely denies international journalists access to the Gaza Strip and local Palestinian journalists are among the only trustworthy sources that can be used to counter the statements of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the largely fascist Israeli government. However, while IDF press releases are still quoted uncritically on a nearly daily basis, the voices of Palestinian colleagues are still barely or never heard in the German media landscape. And when they are, they are often delegitimized, doubted, or even placed under general suspicion from the outset.

Potential terrorists instead of colleagues

A particularly defamatory example was provided by Nicholas Potter, the author of the taz article mentioned above. In his headline he first suggestively asks, „Can journalists be terrorists?“ ⁶ and immediately follows up with the answer. „The distinction is sometimes difficult,“ the subheading reads.⁷ Potter, however, did not arrive at the answer to his tendentious question through personal conversations and exchanges with journalists or colleagues from Gaza. No, his framing of Palestinian journalists as potential terrorists appears to be based solely on statements by the IDF and the testimony of Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian-American author and human rights activist who has not personally been to Gaza since 2005. Potter quotes the latter as saying, among other things, that „it is not possible to say simply and definitively whether each of these nearly 200 people killed were journalists or terrorists.“ Both „legitimate journalists“ and „journalists with very questionable connections“ were killed.⁸ The fact that Potter did not even bother to name the five journalists killed in their press bus, Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed al-Ladah, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan and Ayman al-Jadi⁹, is further symbolic of the often dehumanizing portrayal of Palestinians in the German media. Potter simply calls them „five suspected terrorists“ who, according to the IDF, were eliminated in a „precise airstrike“; although he later adds that others are referring to them as colleagues and that the evidence is „thin“.¹⁰

Palestinian trade unionists: internationally recognized, ignored in Germany

The PJS union, like the German Journalists’ Union (DJU), belongs to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). According to PJS Vice President Tahseen al-Astal, the DJU participated in the last IFJ Global Congress in Oman in June 2022. Beyond that, there has been no bilateral contact since then. Neither the DJU nor any other German union has sought contact with PJS since October 7, according to the Gaza-based unionist. However, they maintain „strong relations with unions around the world“. Furthermore, PJS President Nasser Abu Bakr currently serves as Vice President of the IFJ. Al-Astal, who has been forced to flee with his family more than ten times since October 7, repeatedly expressed his willingness and desire to engage with unions, the media, and civil society in Germany. Among other things, he wrote to me:

“As the Vice President of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in Gaza, I can confirm that I have not been contacted by any German union or media outlet. I would be genuinely pleased if such communication were to take place. If you or others wish to contact me directly to better understand the reality that journalists in Gaza are living through, I am fully ready and willing to engage—whether with unions, media, or civil society groups in Germany. All we ask for is more humanitarian solidarity.

I would like to note that the International Federation of Journalists — which includes the majority of journalists‘ unions worldwide — is in contact with us. A Media Solidarity Center has been established in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, with funding from the Canadian Labour Union and the Norwegian Union, with the goal of supporting journalists in Gaza and standing in solidarity with them. There is potential to work towards supporting this center in coordination with the International Federation, and to advocate for the evacuation of some journalists for medical treatment or educational opportunities abroad, outside the Gaza Strip.”

Journalistic principles not upheld

One of the most important principles of journalism is balance. This means taking into account different perspectives and opinions, even if they do not correspond to one’s own opinion or prejudices. So, if German journalists felt the urge to investigat the question of whether their colleagues in Gaza could be terrorists, shouldn’t they have sought contact with the PJS to gather important information about the context and how to answer their question more profoundly? The answer to this rhetorical question is—of course—yes! Especially if, as in Potter’s case, they even mention the PJS. Had they done so, they could have learned the following from Tahseen al-Astal, among other things, and incorporated it into their previous reporting:

“To begin with, I will aim for my responses to be honest and transparent, shedding light on the intense media misinformation that has accompanied the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This began after October 7, 2023, when Israel resorted to killing civilians as a means of pressure and revenge against Hamas. Unfortunately, this misinformation is being spread by the occupying state—Israel—which tries to present the situation as if its army is engaged in fierce battles in Gaza, using this claim to justify the large number of civilian and journalist deaths. When addressing questions regarding journalists, I will clearly present the reality of what is happening in Gaza, which calls for the intervention of all who care about journalism, humanity, and peace to stop this crime. Israel tries to portray everyone in Gaza as terrorists who deserve to die.

Before answering, it is important to clarify that the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate is an independent institution operating under Palestinian law. However, it has faced obstruction and attempts to hinder its work in Gaza by Hamas due to the Syndicate’s stance against the movement’s violations of journalists’ rights. The majority of the Syndicate’s council members have been banned from travel and detained by the movement. The court in Gaza has also considered a case challenging the results of the Syndicate’s elections held in May 2023, which took place simultaneously in Ramallah and Gaza. The Syndicate is known as one of the few institutions unaffected by the Palestinian political division, with its operations in Gaza and the West Bank managed under a unified leadership.

This clarification is essential to prevent our words from being lumped in with Hamas, as Israel often attempts to label anyone who exposes its crimes as affiliated with Hamas—a charge that has been used to justify the assassination of many journalists.

1. Who determines who is a journalist?

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate is the sole body responsible for defining who is a journalist and verifying the professional status of media workers. To remove any doubt and prevent individuals from other professions from engaging in journalism, the Syndicate’s bylaws explicitly state that no member of security forces or anyone involved in military or security activities may be admitted. Before being granted membership, each journalist signs a pledge to strictly adhere to these bylaws, and the Syndicate is empowered to take necessary measures in case of violations.

Therefore, the occupation’s claim that our journalist colleagues are involved in terrorism is completely false—especially those who are registered members of the Syndicate. The Syndicate has publicly confirmed that they are victims of the war, based on clear statements and statistics. As of now, 225 journalists (male and female) have been killed.

2. Regarding whether these killings are intentional or not:

In the majority of cases, our colleagues were clearly and deliberately assassinated. This is based on testimonies from relatives and colleagues and the circumstances of each case—whether targeting journalists directly, bombing media institutions, homes, or their vehicles. Most of these locations were not in active combat zones at the time of the attacks, pointing to deliberate targeting by the occupation.

I’ll mention two specific cases to illustrate this:

Ismail Al-Ghoul, a journalist known for his continuous work with Al Jazeera and his constant presence among colleagues who never observed any misconduct by him—otherwise, they would have distanced themselves per the Syndicate’s instructions. When he was targeted by Israeli forces, he was covering an incident at a school near Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City. The area was completely calm at the time. He was deliberately targeted solely for his journalistic work.

Ahmad Al-Louh was accused of being a member of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. However, according to his record with the Syndicate, he was previously detained by Hamas in 2019 and kidnapped by Islamic Jihad in 2021 due to his critical stance against both. The Syndicate intervened in both cases to secure his release. He worked with multiple media outlets, most recently as a cameraman for Al Jazeera. He was deliberately targeted—like many others—based on a list allegedly found by the Israeli army, the origin of which is unknown.

As the Journalists Syndicate, we have repeatedly called for an independent international investigative committee to probe these events. We continue to stress this demand, but Israel consistently rejects our calls and refuses to allow independent foreign journalists to enter Gaza.

3. What are the roles of the Syndicate and its policies?

The Syndicate’s bylaws strictly prohibit any journalist from engaging in military activities or working with Palestinian Authority security agencies. This rule is strictly enforced in both the West Bank and Gaza, and all journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories are committed to it. No member of the Syndicate is allowed to work for any military faction—official or otherwise—to ensure the independence of journalistic and union work, and to prevent any factional interference in journalism. This policy is firmly upheld.

We, at the Syndicate, welcome the opportunity to organize meetings in any European country, whether in-person or online, to present and discuss the independent, professional, and ethical standards upheld by our members at the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.

—

Dr. Tahseen Al-Astal
Vice President of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate
Based in Gaza“¹¹

“Never again!” was yesterday

On July 19, journalist Anas al-Sharif tweeted that 85 percent of Gaza’s population is in the „fifth stage“ of malnutrition, the most critical and dangerous stage, with consequences that are often irreversible even if food becomes available again in the future.¹² Since this renewed appeal to the international community for help, al-Sharif has been labeled a terrorist several times within a few days by an IDF spokesperson. He fears this campaign could lead to his targeted assassination. In light of the Israeli slanders, the CPJ issued a call for protection for Anas Al-Sharif on July 24.¹³

Never since World War II have hunger and mass starvation been used as a weapon so “minutely engineered, closely monitored, [and] precisely designed”, says Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation, on the occasion of a report on the “architecture of genocidal hunger” in Gaza published jointly with the research agency Forensic Architecture.¹⁴ The IDF continues to shoot people daily while trying to obtain food. Doctors report that different body parts appear to be targeted each day, and IDF soldiers told the Israeli daily Haaretz that sniper fire on starving civilians is treated like a real-life version of the Netflix series „Squid Game“.¹⁵

Ahmed Al-Najjar is a young art lover, academic, and journalist from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. I’ve been in contact with him since May. He hasn’t given up hope, but his strength, too, is waning. He describes the effects of hunger and the ongoing Israeli blockade as follows:

„People collapsing in the street, it’s something real, something that is happening before our eyes right now, it’s something that we, the people of Gaza, are experiencing. My own body is trembling these days and almost twitching. I feel my grip no longer the same strength that I used to have. I see children in my displacement camp who used to play and used to be vibrant, filling the camp with their joys and cries, sitting idle right now because they don’t have any sort of energy to move. I see the friends in the streets hanging, supporting each other and backing on each other to just be able to walk. People do no longer walk into the markets and no longer go to seek something to eat because they don’t have the energy to do so. Because they know if they go, they waste their energy and they waste their nutrition. So they are being economical about whatever calories they find because they have a captor who feels that he should control their calories and what they feed on and what they do not.”¹⁶

Better too late than no action at all

It’s okay to change your mind if, even in Germany, the most gruesome truths and the worst crimes against humanity can no longer be ignored or justified. What’s needed next, however, is a stand and corresponding action. Dear colleagues in the unions, dear people in the media and in civil society, dear friends, dear everyone, let’s finally put an end to Germany’s support for this madness and dystopian horror. Stop looking away, stop becoming numb, don’t remain silent, show solidarity! Contact the PJS, go to protests, or organize protests yourself. Join forces and raise your voices, because all people have a right to exist and live in peace. A right to oppression, displacement, or genocide does not exist.

*Update 11 August 2025

The journalist Anas al-Sharif, mentioned in the article, was killed on August 10, along with five other journalists, in a targeted IDF drone strike in Gaza City. Their names are Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammed al-Khaldi. Largely uncritically and without providing the necessary context, German media outlets, from Bild to taz, repeated the IDF’s claims that those killed were „terrorists disguised as journalists“. German journalists have thus once again — during an ongoing genocide — made themselves instruments of Israeli state propaganda and, through their reporting, contributed to legitimizing war crimes against their Palestinian colleagues.

An article by Anton Wundrak Mantovanini – I live in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro, am a member of ver.di, and support unions with strategic research. I’m also the initiator of the solidarity textile project DNA MERCH. I’d be happy to put you in direct contact with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. Just send me a message.

Reference

1 „10% of Gaza journalists killed by Israel: Palestinian syndicate“, zugegriffen 24. Juli 2025, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/10-of-gaza-journalists-killed-by-israel-palestinian-syndicate/3136024.

2 „Press Release: A Record Toll on Journalists in Israel-Gaza War“, Committee to Protect Journalists, 21. Dezember 2023, https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists-2/.

3 Nicholas Potter, „Israelische Angriffe auf Gaza: Können Journalisten Terroristen sein?“, Die Tageszeitung: taz, 9. Januar 2025, https://taz.de/Israelische-Angriffe-auf-Gaza/!6057364/.

4 Nick Turse, News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World (2025), https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2025/Turse_Costs%20of%20War_The%20Reporting%20Graveyard%204-2-25.pdf

5 Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, „Silencing Voices: The Plight of Palestinian Journalists Detained by Israeli Occupation during Ongoing Israeli Aggressionon Gaza“, zugegriffen 31. Juli 2025, https://pjs.ps/file/attachs/990.pdf.

6 Potter, „Israelische Angriffe auf Gaza“.

7 Potter, „Israelische Angriffe auf Gaza“.

8 Potter, „Israelische Angriffe auf Gaza“.

9 „‘Heinous Attack’: Israel Kills Five Palestinian Journalists in Gaza Strike“, Al Jazeera, zugegriffen 24. Juli 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/26/five-journalists-killed-in-israeli-strike-near-gaza-hospital.

10 Potter, „Israelische Angriffe auf Gaza“.

11 E-Mail- und WhatsApp-Korrespondenz mit Anton Wundrak Mantovanini

12 أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif [@AnasAlSharif0], „85% of Gaza’s population have entered the ‚fifth stage‘ of malnutrition — the most critical and dangerous phase, which is often irreversible even if food becomes available in the future.“, Tweet, Twitter, 18. Juli 2025, https://x.com/AnasAlSharif0/status/1946345946700255585; „Famine Facts | IPC – Integrated Food Security Phase Classification“, zugegriffen 24. Juli 2025, https://www.ipcinfo.org/famine-facts/.

13 C. P. J. Staff, „CPJ Calls for Anas Al-Sharif’s Protection in Face of Israeli Smears“, Committee to Protect Journalists, 24. Juli 2025, https://cpj.org/2025/07/cpj-calls-for-anas-al-sharifs-protection-in-face-of-israeli-smears/.

14 „“Precisely Designed Mass Starvation”: Aid Access as Weapon in Israel’s War on Gaza, Researchers Find“, Democracy Now!, zugegriffen 24. Juli 2025, https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/21/forensic_architecture; Architecture of Genocidal Starvation (Forensic Architecture, o. J.), zugegriffen 24. Juli 2025, https://frames.forensic-architecture.org/gaza/aid/aid-in-gaza-two-models.

15 R. Powell, A Game of Body Parts: Israeli Snipers Accused of Systematic Targeting of Gaza’s Children … for Fun – Greatreporter, 23. Juli 2025, https://greatreporter.com/2025/07/23/a-game-of-body-parts-israeli-snipers-accused-of-systematic-targeting-of-gazas-children-for-fun/.

16 „Tony Groves – Tortoise Shack auf Instagram: ‚Please listen to journalist in Gaza @ahmaadbassam on the latest PalCast (link in my story) and for the sake of humanity DEMAND ACTION. #OpenTheGates or tear down the walls. This is man made famine live-streamed and if it’s not eating away at your soul then you have none.‘“, Instagram, 23. Juli 2025, https://www.instagram.com/tortoiseshack/reel/DMc8ibRsM_h/.