The Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists: Western Media as Partners in Genocide based on Chris Hedges.

 

August 31, 2025

Apparently, journalism has been redefined. Once upon a time, it meant chasing the truth through danger, discomfort, and sometimes death. Today? It means parroting whatever the Israeli military WhatsApps into your inbox — preferably before happy hour at the hotel bar.

There are, of course, two species of war correspondents. The first is endangered: Palestinian journalists who run toward the rubble, who interview people screaming under collapsed homes, who dare to record the massacres Israel insists never happened. Their reward? Being labeled “Hamas operatives” before being assassinated, often with their entire families for good measure. Israel has killed more than 270 journalists in Gaza since October 7th — a world record in media freedom, if “media freedom” means “freedom from living journalists.”

Then there’s the second species: the Great Western Press Corps. These are the brave souls who risk paper cuts from press releases. They strap on helmets and flak jackets to report from the Gaza border fence — where the biggest threat is sunburn. They nod solemnly at IDF briefings, scribble down fairy tales about “terrorist cameras” and “beheaded babies,” and ship the lies straight to your breakfast table. Pulitzer-worthy stuff.

Consider this journalistic gem: when Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and his colleagues were killed in a “double tap” strike on a Gaza hospital, the headlines read:

• “Israel Says Strike Targeted Hamas Camera” (AP)
• “IDF Claims Hospital Strike Was Aimed at Hamas Camera” (CNN)
• “Initial Inquiry Says Hamas Camera Was Target” (Reuters).

Yes, you read that right. Hamas cameras. Terrifying weapons of mass documentation. Tripods of terror. Maybe next week, we’ll learn about the Al-Qassam Lens Cap Brigade.

Or take Al Jazeera’s Anas Al Sharif, blown apart with three colleagues in a media tent. Reuters headlined it: “Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journalist It Says Was Hamas Leader.” Because of course — if you’re Palestinian and own a microphone, congratulations: you’re automatically on the IDF kill list.

And the Western press? They eat this garbage with a silver spoon. They know it’s lies — everyone does — but truth doesn’t buy access, and access buys careers. You don’t get invited to IDF dog-and-pony shows by questioning “terrorist cameras.” You get invited by nodding like a bobblehead while soldiers walk you through a “secret Hamas tunnel” conveniently located under a children’s hospital.

Meanwhile, Palestinian reporters — the real journalists — leave behind video wills because they know they’ll be next. But don’t worry, the Western press will clean up the narrative: “Israel claims deceased journalist was terrorist, and also, probably invented the camera.”

This isn’t journalism. It’s stenography in Kevlar. It’s propaganda with a press badge. It’s the moral equivalent of holding a ladder while Israel hangs the truth from a tree.

So let’s dispense with the fairy tale: Western reporters are not neutral observers. They are accomplices. They launder Israeli lies into “balanced reporting.” They mock their dead Palestinian colleagues by amplifying the slanders used to justify their murder. They betray not only journalism but humanity itself.

And when the rubble settles, history won’t remember them as reporters. It will remember them as the press corps that mistook genocide for a press conference.