Shireen’s Murder by Israeli forces Is Likely to Spark More of Its Kind in the Arab World, by Martin Jay

The brutal murder of the veteran journalist has shown the world what Israel is capable of in its illegal occupation. But it has also show leaders of other Arab countries how to get away with murder of western journalists.

It’s hard to process the sheer magnitude of the murder of Shireen Abu Aqleh who was shot dead by an Israeli sniper. Shireen was a giant of a journalist and considered in the sick mindset of Israeli forces a prize to be savoured when killed. She was a voice in the Arab world which Israel wanted silenced and it is inconceivable that the sniper took the shot without the backing of his hierarchy. Surely in the months to come information will be leaked of his promotion.

What Israel hates above everything is the truth being told about its disgusting occupation and abysmal wholesale theft of Palestinian land, not to mention how Palestinians have been dehumanized as part of this process. Although we have all become accustomed to seeing women and children beaten by IDF soldiers, young men shot at for merely protesting and Palestinians literally being chucked out of their homes or turfed off their land stolen by Israelis, the elite in Israel are still vexed by press coverage which shows them in this sub-human light. It is as though the horrors of the holocaust are being relived. The abused live to merely abuse as part of a sick healing process and each day which passes and we see the egregious oppression of these people, Israelis steal more and grow a little more while Palestinians diminish. It’s part of a long-term plan which will shrink the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and leave Palestinians as refugees without even crumbling, bombed out apartment blocks to live in. One day they will literally be living on the Gaza beach, like stranded British soldiers starving on the shores of Dunkirk at the beginning of WWII.

And America pumps in billions and billions of military aid investment while both Washington and the EU remain silent about the horror story. Incredible how quick the West was to react to Russian invasion in Ukraine and the sanctions which snapped into place within a matter of days – not to mention the media shutdown of RT and Sputnik – but with Israel we don’t see the same mindset at all. The hypocrisy is stunning. America and the EU shut down Russia’s media capability as it would only offer an alternative view for its citizens, arming them with a different narrative which might threaten their tawdry objectives in Ukraine. But the same people with their hands on the levers of power remain silent about Israel, giving it the tacit approval to steal, murder and maim with the most grotesque prejudice which can really only be compared to what Hitler’s Waffen SS regiments did in WWII. History really is repeating itself in Israel. The IDF is the new Waffen death squad. The Palestinians are the new Jews losing their properties, businesses and right to merely exist.

The hypocrisy of the West over Shireen’s murder is also stunning. Not a single word from Joe Biden, a man who refuses to accept early dementia when stuttering baloney off an autocue day in and day out from Washington.

Let us ponder the message that this not only sends Israel but also all Middle Eastern leaders. Murder as many journalists as you like. We’ll not stop you.

Leaders of many Middle Eastern countries will note how Shireen’s murder passed by without even a trace of opprobrium or call centre moral tutelage from western leaders, despite a huge hue and cry before by an Arab journalist who wasn’t even a US citizen, Jamal Khashoggi. Jamal’s murder dominated our TV screens while reams of articles were written about his murder at the hands of Saudi hitmen in the kingdom’s Istanbul embassy in 2018.

What’s the difference? Surely, the fact that Shireen was a US citizen would muster a deluge of press excoriation from the American press? Not at all. In fact, what smacks the observer in the face is how mainstream media in the U.S. is barely capable of even reporting on her murder in the first place, toning it down to merely being ‘killed’ or in some cases just ‘dying’ with a reference to her age.

Remarkably, we can now see what the Khashoggi outburst and media campaign was really all about as the rank hypocrisy is now exposed. The hue and cry from the mainstream media was really all about attacking Trump and was faked entirely by such giants as the Washington Post who seemed to have been leading it at one point. “Yet another Palestinian journalist dies on the job” is the extraordinary headline which the Washington Post can only manage rather than tell the truth about her assassination by an Israeli sniper who went for a head shot. This handling of the murder of course merely gives the encouragement to Israel to carry out even more murders of journalists, knowing how kindly these events will be covered by western media and in particular the US giants like the Post. It also gives clarity to leaders of Middle Eastern countries on how to go about murdering foreign journalists on their soil. Shoot them during riots. By not reacting with the correct journalistic coverage over Shireen’s murder, a dictum has been issued to all despots of Arab kleptocracies. In case you were confused about the Khashoggi murder and are not sure how to murder journalists, this is the best way. The Shireen way.

Shireen’s murder has shown the world that not only is there no limit in how far Israel can go with its illegal and morally bankrupt treatment of Palestinians, but that there is equally no limit to how far the West will go to support it. We can expect more murders of journalists in occupied Palestine and certainly more in the region of western journalists who threaten despots with zealous reporting of the truth. Shireen is probably the last of a dying breed. Literally.

R.I.P. Shireen.

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