Silencing the Truth: Israel’s War on Journalists Escalates from Gaza to Tehran
By , Geopolitical Correspondent
In two separate war zones—Gaza and now Tehran—Israel stands accused of escalating its campaign against one of the last checks on unrestrained power: the press. From a bombed-out news van in Gaza to the charred remains of Iran’s state broadcasting building, the pattern is impossible to ignore. Journalists are increasingly in Israel’s crosshairs, and the world is watching in silence.
On Friday, the Israeli military bombed the headquarters of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Iran’s largest media outlet, while journalists were still inside. The anchor delivering the morning news barely escaped death as a missile struck her studio mid-broadcast. Moments later, she reappeared on air from a separate location, visibly shaken but defiant. “If I die, others will take my place and reveal your crimes to the world,” she declared, her voice unwavering.
Outside the burning structure, another reporter—his hands bloodied—stood before the camera. He didn’t know how many of his colleagues had been killed. What he did know, he said, was that their mission would continue. “If this is your way of silencing our voice, let me tell you that it will not work.”
This is not an isolated act. It is part of an alarming trend that gained international attention when Israeli forces were accused of targeting a van full of Palestinian journalists in Gaza just weeks earlier. The van, clearly marked “PRESS,” was attacked without warning. According to one survivor, the van was deliberately hit, and surviving journalists were shot at as they attempted to flee. Later, Israeli troops reportedly returned to torch the wreckage and the bodies inside—an apparent attempt to destroy evidence. The Israeli government later claimed the journalists were “militants in disguise,” a justification increasingly used to rationalise lethal force against members of the press.
These acts are not just battlefield miscalculations—they are violations of international law. The Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court explicitly protect journalists and media personnel during times of war. Targeting them constitutes a war crime.
And yet, accountability remains elusive.
More than 170 Palestinian journalists have reportedly been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since the conflict escalated. Many were killed alongside their families, others while on air or in clearly identified press vehicles. With each incident, the Israeli government issues boilerplate denials, while much of the Western media repeats those statements uncritically—if they cover the incidents at all.
The selective outrage is stark. When journalists are harmed in adversarial or non-aligned countries, headlines erupt. Condemnations follow. But when Israel, a key Western ally, is the accused, the story rarely leads. Often, it doesn’t run at all.
The attack on IRIB marks a dangerous turning point: not only are Palestinian journalists under fire, but now even foreign media outlets beyond Israel’s borders are being struck. The goal appears to be the same—eliminate independent reporting, obscure the reality of war, and control the global narrative.
This is not simply a war on Gaza or a military conflict with Iran. This is a war on truth itself. And the media, instead of standing united against these crimes, has too often remained complicit through silence.
At a time when disinformation thrives and public trust is eroding, journalists play an indispensable role in shining light into the darkest corners. When that light is extinguished—whether by a missile in Tehran or gunfire in Gaza—what’s left is a battlefield of lies.
The world must decide: will we defend those who risk everything to reveal the truth, or continue to look away while they are buried under rubble and ash?
“If I die, others will take my place and reveal your crimes to the world.” In those words, spoken by a survivor of the IRIB bombing, lies a warning—and a promise.
