On Palestine

On August 10, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif wrote:

“To Whom It May Concern: The occupation is now openly threatening a full-scale invasion of Gaza. For 22 months, the city has been bleeding under relentless bombardment from land, sea, and air. Tens of thousands have been killed, and hundreds of thousands wounded. If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop. Please share this message and tag everyone who has the power to help end this massacre. Silence is complicity.”

Within hours, Al-Sharif was assassinated by the Israeli military in a targeted attack.

Al-Sharif was one of 184 Palestinian journalists murdered by Israel since 2023. He was one of tens of thousands of Palestinian fathers murdered by Israel since 2023 — a figure that will rise as forced starvation threatens millions.

Roughly half of the Palestinians killed by Israel were children. The deliberate massacre of children is unprecedented, as is the record number of reporters killed.

This is genocide. The plan was always genocide. The Palestinian victims of the genocide told us the plan in advance, as did the perpetrators: Netanyahu, his administration of Kahanist extremists, and the vicious settlers that support them.

Only now is this obvious truth accepted by world leaders. They tell the truth because Gaza is destroyed: Israel is far enough along in its annihilatory agenda that they can express feigned concern. True concern would entail stopping the flow of money and arms to Israel. Pundits and politicians tell the truth about Israel’s genocide because they think truth no longer matters.

But truth has its own life. That is what Palestinian journalists knew as their own lives were taken. There is no crueler task than to have to document one’s own demise and there is no more selfless act than to leave a record. That is what Palestinian journalists gave as their lives were stolen. Anas Al-Sharif was 28 years old.

When examining Israel’s actions in Gaza, sometimes there is no “why” but sadism: what possible reason is there to slay a starving child? Yet journalists remain a threat beyond Israel’s impunity. As Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer wrote, before the Israeli military murdered him, “If I must die, let it be a tale.” Tales don’t die.

Palestinian journalists record ...