A Guardian report on a Palestinian detained for his involvement in terrorism attempts to portray him as just an innocent “journalist.”
In fact Omar Nazzal is linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terror group responsible for attacks on Israel including suicide bombings, the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, and the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue massacre, in which terrorists attacked worshipers with a gun and butcher knives, ultimately taking eight lives. Just this week the PFLP claimed responsibility for firing a rocket from Gaza into Israel. Nazzal also headed an Islamic Jihad TV station, Palestine Today, for five months until he resigned shortly before Israel shut it down in March.
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Nazzal was due to be released this week but Israel has extended his detention, leading to a condemnation from the International Federation of Journalists. Their statement reads:
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today joined its affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), in condemning the 3-month extension of the detention without trial of Palestinian journalist and member of the PJS board. Omar Nazzal (54), who had been due for release today, was arrested without any reason being given on 23 April… “This arrest clearly reveals the level of targeting and persecution of journalists and their union by the Israeli authorities”, said the PJS in a statement at the time.
Later on in the statement the IFJ does mention that Israel accuses him of participation in a terrorist organization, but that this is “based solely on evidence which they refuse to divulge.”
The Guardian report echoes the IFJ, saying that “without revealing its evidence, the military accused Nazzal of “participation in a terrorist organization.” It also repeats the PSJ‘s quote that “This arrest clearly reveals the level of targeting and persecution of journalists and their union by the Israeli authorities.”
Of course Israel does NOT persecute journalists. The Guardian doesn’t bother to mention that the Shin Bet had specifically stated at the time that he was not detained because of his journalism. Rather, they explained: “Omar has for years been known to be a Popular Front activist: he was arrested now because of his involvement in current Popular Front activities.”
This all comes just two days after the Foreign Press Association issued a statement that it is “concerned about restrictions being imposed by Hamas officials on the work of foreign journalists in the Gaza Strip.” So who is really targeting journalists here? Why would the media fixate on Israel’s detention of a terror suspect who also happens to be a journalist, but ignore Hamas’ stifling journalists’ freedom of speech?
The Guardian also quotes the IFJ President Philippe Leruth saying “This Israeli policy of administrative detention is a violation of human rights.”
Former IDF Lawyer and current Senior Researcher for the INSS, Pnina Sharvit Baruch, explained to HonestReporting that administrative detention is:
issued by the military commander in the West Bank under the military legislation which allows to issue such orders where a person poses a danger to the security of the area that the detention is aimed at preventing. This is usually applicable only if there is no possibility to criminally prosecute the person, due usually to the reliance on confidential information. The order can be issued for up to six months, but can be renewed if the danger still exists. This is also the legal situation in Israel, including the authority to extend and renew orders for more than six months. According to the Israeli legal position administrative detention in the West Bank is allowed under Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949.
After casting doubt over Israel’s reasoning for detaining Nazzal, in the very last lines of the article The Guardian throws in those inconvenient details that any news report should include – i.e. some vital factual context (albeit without even mentioning the word “terror”):
Nazzal formerly headed Palestine Today, a TV station affiliated with the militant group Islamic Jihad, for five months. He resigned earlier this year shortly before Israel shut down the broadcaster. Nazzal also had ties to the PFLP which, in the past, was involved in attacks on Israelis.
Why is The Guardian choosing to parrot the IFJ’s own agenda, prioritizing that over reporting what a news outlet is actually supposed to do and provide the necessary context and facts?
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