If you’re following the World Cup in Qatar or not, I invite you to notice one interesting phenomenon:
Oftentimes, when it is an Israeli crew asking football fans about their experience, they get the cold shoulder.
The reactions themselves seem to vary between a straight-up “No”, a conversation that ends when the interviewers realise they’re being interviewed by the Israeli press, or…well, there is one more reaction that I have to admit is my favourite (don’t worry, it’s not violent).
On one hand, it’s not that surprising: the Arab world is very much aware of what has been happening in Palestine for decades. On the other hand, that seems somewhat significant since not all of the fans being interviewed are from the Arab world after all.
Yet how the Israeli press is being treated in Qatar begs a question:
How is Israel treating journalists – especially Palestinian journalists – at home?
I present all of this in my brief video below:
In short, like any other Palestinian, Palestinian journalists can’t escape the brutal regime that dehumanises and oppresses them. Trying to dismantle Israel’s narrative of an oppressor that is defending itself becomes an extremely dangerous activity — that can even be punishable by death.
The killings of journalists by Israeli forces is a phenomenon so common it even has its own Wikipedia page. I invite you to see what the Committee to Protect Journalists has to say about Israel, too.
Just like at the end of all of my articles about Palestine, I also invite you to speak out against this violence and this ongoing injustice.
Listen to my latest episode on the violence against Palestinian children here:
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