In an interview with Al Jazeera, journalist Jeremy Scahill, the co-founder of Drop Site News, condemned the Israeli strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital as part of a "war of extermination," accusing Israel of systematically murdering witnesses to its actions. He described the tactic as a "double-tap" technique, pioneered by the US, designed to target first responders. Scahill expressed profound shame at Western media organisations, which he accused of dehumanising Palestinians and acting as conveyor belts for Israeli propaganda. He lambasted the profession for its hypocritical response to the killing of over 270 Palestinian journalists, whom he called "the greatest journalistic heroes of our lifetime." Scahill argued that if the US government desired, it could end the conflict immediately, and criticised the lack of substantive international outcry, stating that silence makes complicit those who do not act.
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00:00Right. Well, joining us now is Jeremy Skahil. He's the co-founder of DropSite News.
00:05Joining us now from Zadar in Croatia, Croatia, rather.
00:10Jeremy, can I find out what your thoughts are on this latest double attack here, not just on journalists, but also a hospital?
00:20Well, Sarah, what we're witnessing in the midst of this war of annihilation, this war of extermination,
00:26is a mass murder campaign being waged by a serial killer masquerading as a nation state, Israel,
00:33trying to systematically murder the witnesses to its genocidal actions, to the burning of children alive in tents,
00:41to the forced starvation of people, to the massive bombing of whole cities, raising them to the ground.
00:47And this double tap technique that Israel used here is one that the United States actually helped to pioneer
00:53during the so-called war on terror, where you would see an initial drone strike,
00:57whether it was in Pakistan or Yemen, and then the first responders or family members or other tribal people
01:03would come to try to rescue people that had been hit in that original drone strike.
01:07And then you murder the first responders. Israel has done this repeatedly, not just during this genocidal war,
01:13but for a very long time. And I speak to you today with total shame.
01:18I have never been more ashamed of our profession. This is also the blood is on the hands of Western news
01:24organizations that systematically dehumanize Palestinians from the beginning, spreading lies
01:29about beheaded babies, talking about Palestinians as monsters and serving as conveyor belts for the
01:35lies of an Israeli regime intent on wiping the Palestinians off the map. And shame on some of these
01:40news organizations, Western news organizations, when they're Palestinian journalists,
01:44the greatest journalistic heroes of our lifetime are killed. They say, oh, well, they were just a freelancer.
01:50Oh, well, this was a contributor to us. And then they always have to put in that lie from Israel.
01:54Well, we're investigating. Oh, they had ties to Hamas. Shame on our profession, Sarah.
01:59I was just about to ask you actually on that, because you're an investigative journalist calling for a revival
02:07of adversarial journalism. You said in Western mainstream media, especially when it comes to the coverage of Gaza war.
02:14What do you see at the moment and what do you think needs changing?
02:21Look, the fact that Netanyahu and Israel banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza is is a huge problem.
02:29And this was because they didn't want white Western journalists from the BBC and other organizations
02:34to witness their crimes because they think, oh, well, if white journalists are saying it, then it must be true.
02:40And once that happened, what we saw was an ignoring of our Palestinian colleagues.
02:45These Western news organizations, if they believed in a free press, if they believed in doing their jobs,
02:50would have lifted up our Palestinian colleagues. So that's what it requires, Sarah.
02:55It requires actually saying there are journalists on the ground and some of them are young and all of them are epic heroes.
03:01And speaking about reaction to what's happened, could you just hold off for a second there, Jeremy Scal,
03:07because I want to we've just heard from Donald Trump, the U.S. president, on this.
03:11Let's just take a listen at the moment.
03:14We could get your reaction, sir. The Israelis bombed a hospital in Gaza and killed 20 people, including five journalists.
03:21When did this happen?
03:22This happened overnight today.
03:25I didn't know.
03:25Any reaction to this? Well, I'm not happy about it. I don't want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that all nightmare.
03:32I'm the one that got the hostages out. I got them out. All of them.
03:36Steve Whitcoff has been amazing. He's done a great job.
03:38But I'm the one that got them all out through my people and through me.
03:42And now we're left with probably a little bit less than 20 because I think one or two are gone.
03:49And I said a long time ago, I'm going to get them out.
03:52But when we get down to that final 10 or 20, these people aren't going to release them because they're dead after they release them.
03:58So it's a it's a nasty situation. Very nasty. Horrible thing.
04:02Yes.
04:03Could you please elaborate on your post on South Korea? What were you referring to?
04:07Well, I heard that they were.
04:09Right. Well, you just heard there a reaction from Trump.
04:12He says he's not happy about the Israeli strike on Gaza,
04:16but then continued to talk about the captives and how he managed to secure the release of some of them.
04:21Of course, he's referring to that last ceasefire.
04:24But again, evading really the crux of this Israel continuing a genocide.
04:30And if the U.S. wanted to, it could end it.
04:33Yeah. And, you know, look, I mean, obviously, Donald Trump is lying about he he got the captives released.
04:39I mean, the man has a Ph.D. in lying, but more so he glosses over it.
04:42Well, I don't like it. Look at what happens when Russia imprisons American journalists or when adversaries of the United States kill journalists.
04:50It becomes a huge story and journalists start to put little banners in their Twitter bios.
04:55Two hundred and seventy media workers have been murdered by this serial killer posing posing as a nation state.
05:02And silence has been the dominant reaction across the board.
05:05And it's ironic that Donald Trump mentions the release of Israeli captives because no one wants to talk about the fact that Hamas just agreed to a ceasefire proposal that was drafted by Steve Whitcoff and Ron Dermer, Netanyahu's top political advisor,
05:20that basically agrees to almost all of the conditions that the United States and Israel were imposing.
05:26And they're pretending that that's just not true.
05:28It's more evidence that we need real journalists that are willing to talk to everyone, including Hamas.
05:33We need real media organizations that are willing to hire Palestinian journalists on the ground in Gaza, elevate their voices, translate their work.
05:41That's how you confront this murderous propaganda regime.
05:45I want to just go back to Jeremy Scal to addressing the apathy, if you like, the lack of condemnation from journalists, from international media outlets.
05:57Now, they have questions why they've not been allowed into Israel.
06:02But the question is, is why are they not using more Palestinian journalists that are witnessing themselves, they're living themselves, this current war?
06:12Why do you think that is?
06:15Because they're part of the propaganda mechanism that Israel depends on.
06:20You know, Israel has accused the United Nations of being Hamas.
06:23It's accused doctors of being Hamas.
06:25It's accused parents with starving children of being Hamas.
06:29It accuses our colleagues, especially those from Al Jazeera, of being Hamas.
06:34And so, you know, recently, John Simpson of the BBC posted something saying that we need international reporters in there to get independent, verifiable information.
06:43Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear knows that Anas al-Sharif was the most reliable journalist that was in Gaza.
06:49He was 24 hours a day reporting around the clock.
06:52Our five colleagues who were murdered today were epic heroes that deserve to be lifted up.
06:56But I'm sorry to say, I think they've all bought into the propaganda.
07:01They believed Israel's lies.
07:03And those lies are lethal.
07:04And it's part of why Israel knows with impunity it could continue to mass murder our colleagues.
07:10I'll just say it again, shame on all journalists and media organizations that have either dehumanized Palestinians or refused to stand up for their colleagues because of the fact they happen to be born Palestinian.
07:21Thank you very much, Jeremy Skyle there, co-founder of DropSite News, speaking to us from Croatia.
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