The stupid argument that "Israel kills journalists, too"

There is a certain type of person who, upon hearing that something horrendous happened, reflexively tries to come up with ways to prove that Israel is worse. (When that doesn' t work, they usually fall back to saying that Israel was behind the atrocity to begin with.)

These people, by viewing all world events through their "I hate Israel" glasses, show that they don't give a damn about the lives lost in the original event. No, everything bad that happens must be used, however tenuously, as anti-Israel incitement.

Such haters of Israel - including some Israelis - have been using a new anti-Israel meme, saying that Israel has killed more journalists than the Paris jihadists did at Charlie Hebdo.

This cartoon was published in Haaretz counting 13 "journalists" killed in Gaza compared to 10 killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack::

Do I have to point out the difference between specifically targeting journalists to be killed because what they wrote offends you, and being killed in a war zone?

(There have reportedly been threats against the Haaretz cartoonist that made this sickening equivalence. That is of course wrong, but Internet masses saying they wish someone was dead is not usually a credible threat. If Haaretz staffers feel threatened, then they should go to the police to arrest those who are making the threats. If it is simply the sort of stupidity that Internet users spout every day it is hardly in the same league as the death threats of jihadists.)

The other problem with the equivalence between the journalists killed in Gaza and those murdered by French jihadists is that some of the "journalists" were terrorists themselves.

The cartoon referred to an IFJ count during the Gaza war saying that 13 journalists had been killed so far. They include Izzat Dheir, who was an Islamic Jihad fighter.

They count Abdurrahman Abu Hina, a Hamas member (#875.)

Other journalists that appear on lists of those killed by Israel in Gaza after this IFJ list was published include Abdullah Murtaja:

Other "journalists," like Khaled Riad Mohammed Hamad, weren't journalists in any real sense. They worked for terrorist media outlets, where journalistic ethics are nonexistent - they were propagandists paid by Hamas or Islamic Jihad. If the IFJ wants to consider them part of their profession, that's fine, but it really waters down the definition of "journalist." International law definitely distinguishes between legitimate media and propaganda outlets that could contribute to the war.

Other journalists killed in Gaza were not killed by Israeli bombings. At least three were killed when Gaza "bomb disposal experts" took them to see them work - and they did not distance the journalists far enough, nor did they give them any protective gear, as the munitions exploded. Yet they are also often listed as being killed by Israel by the haters.

UNESCO only counts 8 journalists killed that fit their criteria. Two of them (Simone Camilli and Ali Shehda Abu Afash, a translator) were killed by munitions that exploded while supposedly being disarmed. They counted at least three "journalists" for Hamas media (Khaled Riad Mohammed Hamad, Sameh al-Aryan and Mohamed Daher.) One of the remaining was a driver, not a journalist.

Any objective observer would conclude that there is no possible comparison between Israeli actions and those of the Charlie Hebdo terrorists, and inded such a comparison is obscene.

Haaretz defends the cartoon as "freedom of speech" but real journalists should prize accuracy and honesty over blind, hateful Israel bashing, which is what that cartoon really is. No one should be threatened over its publication, but no responsible media outlet would publish such an inaccurate piece to begin with. Haaretz has the absolute right to publish lies, but its defense of publishing lies indicates that Haaretz is not so much a newspaper as it is dedicated to anti-Israel propaganda itself

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