[News] To stifle truth, Israelis threaten to decapitate Lebanese journalist

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/to-stifle-truth---israel--threatens-to-decapitate-lebanese-j>
To stifle truth, Israelis threaten to decapitate Lebanese journalist
Al Mayadeen English
September 14, 2024
------------------------------

Israelis, armed with US impunity, spares no one in its war on Gaza and
aggression on Lebanon, deliberately targeting journalists amid its
systematic strategy of silencing the truth.
[image: e69b5036-eda3-41c1-b2ca-312ec64d711f.jpg]

   - Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil *(Social media)*

Israeli attempts to silence the truth are relentless, with one method
focusing on deliberately targeting journalists who cover the massacres
committed by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian and Lebanese
people, which are crimes against humanity, to say the least.

The latest of such attempts was aimed at Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil,
of *Al-Akhbar* newspaper, who is tasked with covering the Israeli
aggression on South Lebanon. Khalil came under a direct threat via
WhatsApp, in which a number contacted her and said that "they will
decapitate her if she does not leave Lebanon."

Journalist Amal Khalil revealed that she received a message from the
Israeli enemy threatening to kill her and demolish her home and calling on
her to leave Lebanon. This prompted Khalil to inform the relevant
authorities of this matter, "as the enemy has recently resorted to this
method against a lot of people."

Speaking to *Al Mayadeen*, journalist Khalil said that the threat she was
subjected to is against every journalist who continues to stand strong in
the South, documenting Israeli crimes in video and audio.

"I received a message from an Israeli number on my personal phone on August
25," she recounted in the interview, noting that she contacted the relevant
security services, which, in turn, confirmed that this threat was serious
and that the number was from inside occupied Palestine.

Khalil recalled the Israeli attacks on journalists in southern Lebanon,
which resulted in the martyrdom of *Al Mayadeen*'s correspondent Farah Omar
and cameraman Rabie Me'mari, as well as *Reuters* photojournalist Issam
Abdallah, stressing that all Israeli attempts were to intimidate the press
crews and force them to leave.

"After nearly a year of the Israeli aggression, many journalists in
Palestine and South Lebanon continue to stand strong and remain steadfast,"
stressing that "all credit for exposing the truth of the Israeli killing
machine to the public opinion goes to these steadfast journalists."

"All the bombing and raids will never frighten us," she asserted.
Due process to take place

Commenting on the incident, the head of the Syndicate of Lebanese Press
Editors, Joseph al-Qusaifi, denounced the Israeli threat against “our
colleague Amal Khalil” and reported informing the Union of Arab
Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, and the relevant
UN bodies of the matter to apply due process.

Al-Qusaifi, who was informed of the incident against Khalil, said she was
threatened with being killed and her house demolished via social media
under an Israeli number.

The Israeli message calls on Khalil to leave not only South Lebanon, where
she is stationed, but Lebanon entirely to Qatar “if you want your head to
remain attached to your body.”

The message added, "We know where you are, and we will get to you when the
time comes."

Expressing solidarity with Khalil, Al-Qusaifi condemned “the insolent
threat that violates all international charters, covenants, and laws of
protecting journalists in times of war.” He warned the relevant journalist
and UN bodies “to be aware of the Zionist scheme against every journalist
and media professional doing their professional duty and exposing the
deliberate crimes committed by the Israeli war machine against civilians in
Gaza, the West Bank, and South Lebanon,” vowing to follow up on the matter.
An enemy terrorized by the truth

Blue helmets and protective shields clearly marked with the word "Press"
never protected journalists from Israeli attacks. Rather, the Israeli
military deliberately attacks journalists to obscure the facts, through
deliberate killing in cold blood, terrorizing and making arrests, and
targeting family members, homes, and properties. According to the latest
tally by the Government Media Office in Gaza, the number of journalists
martyred since the beginning of the aggression and the genocidal war on the
Gaza Strip has risen to 172, while hundreds remain detained in Israeli
occupation prisons and detention centers, under the most heinous forms of
abuse and torture.

In addition to targeting individual journalists and their families, Israeli
occupation forces have bombed many foreign and local media HQs inside the
Gaza Strip during the past period.

In Lebanon, the Israeli attacks targeted many journalists, including *Al
Mayadeen*'s team
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--deliberately-kills-al-mayadeen-s-crew-in-south-leba>,
which led to the martyrdom of correspondent Farah Omar, cameraman Rabih
Me'mari, and their colleague Hussein Aqil by a drone attack. Prior to this
incident, *Reuters *photojournalist Issam Abdallah
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israelis-kills-reuters-journalist-agency-fails-to-mention-ki>
was martyred and several other journalists were injured, some in serious
condition, by a shell from an Israeli tank while they were covering the
situation on the border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine.

As a matter of fact, Israeli incitement against journalists and media
outlets has extended to the West Bank, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu reiterated his call in a government session to shut down the *Al
Mayadeen Media Network*
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/irked-by-al-mayadeen--netanyahu-urges--shutting-it-down--in>
in
the region.

"Why are orders against *Al Mayadeen* in the West Bank not being enforced?"
Netanyahu questioned. In response, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi
said that this falls under the authority of Security Minister Yoav Gallant.

Even Israeli *Channel 14* made a report on *Al Mayadeen*, in which it
expressed its fear of the channel’s media activity in the West Bank
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-channel-14-demands-gallant-renew-the-ban-on-al-mayad>,
inciting the renewal of its ban, and expressing its particular displeasure
with the meeting with the commander of the Tulkarm Battalion in the al-Quds
Brigades, Abu Shujaa
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/al-mayadeen-interviews--israel-s--top-wanted-fighter-in-wb>
.

The far-right channel didn’t stop at mere incitement; it went further by
demanding that Israeli Minister of Security Yoav Gallant issue the ban.
Gallant, however, is already grappling with numerous complications and
challenges, primarily the ongoing resistance his “army” faces in the Gaza
Strip, the continued military operations on various fronts—especially in
the north—and the mounting problems plaguing his exhausted forces after
nearly 11 months of war.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20240914/c2be87a1/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: e69b5036-eda3-41c1-b2ca-312ec64d711f.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 104401 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20240914/c2be87a1/attachment-0001.jpg>