Today, May 11th, marks two years since the martyrdom of Shireen Abu Akleh. A generation of Palestinians was raised on her voice.
Shireen, who was a journalist with Al-Jazeera was covering a brutal IOF raid on the city of Jenin, dressed in “PRESS” armor, and wearing a helmet, when she was deliberately shot in the only uncovered area in her head, by a zionist sniper. Successive gunfire from IOF troops prevented medics from reaching her in the crucial moments after she was shot.
The zionists who feared Shireen’s voice when she was alive, feared her martyrdom’s coffin even more. Storming the funeral fully aware of every possible news outlet camera in the whole wide world, they clubbed the Palestinians who held her coffin and causing it to be dropped, acting with full impunity as they know for a fact, no one in the “international community” will take action. They never have, and they never will. Only the resistance stands up for its people. Today’s genocide war bears witness.
What happened with Shireen happens every day in Palestine. In fact, what most people may not know, Shireen was not the only martyr on May 11th 2022. 18-year-old Tha’er Al-Yazuri was shot and martyred the same day. Another female journalist, Ghufran Warasneh, was martyred a few weeks later. Shireen’s case isn’t the exception for a Palestinian in Palestine; it is the norm. This time, Shireen happened to be a very well known Palestinian. A world-renowned journalist. A woman. A Christian. A “US citizen.” Her martyrdom happened to have been filmed, and to stir the people of the world’s curiosity for news outlets to care and conduct investigations and to prove that it was indeed, deliberate.
But none of the details matter. What matters is that she was a Palestinian and that she was shot by her occupier.
Shireen was the very proof that no matter who you are or who you’re affiliated with, the zionist occupation can and will kill you for being Palestinian. It is an extension of the Nakba. The Nakba goes on.
Two years have passed since Shireen’s martyrdom. 146 journalists have been murdered by the occupation in Gaza and South Lebanon since October 7th. Many were deliberately targeted, their homes demolished, their families killed, in a collective “punishment” for conveying the truth about Palestine.
When journalist Mohammad Abu Hatab was martyred in November, his colleague Salman Abu Bashir said: “These are simply symbolic items we wear. They don’t protect any journalist. None of this does. We are simply victims live on air, sacrificing our souls one after the other. We go as martyrs only. It is only a matter of time. ”
Every day, new stories emerge. Wael Al-Dahdouh lost members of his family after the occupation targeted them twice, including his son Hamza. Samer Abu Daqqah bled until martyrdom on the floor of a UN school for displaced people. Jabr Abu Hadrous ascended with his family. Just today, Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues were targeted live on air while he was reporting, and last week, journalist Hassan Aslih’s family home was destroyed. The stories are endless, many of which we may never hear about or tell.
However, never did these journalists stop exposing the truth and telling stories. Despite attempts of repression and silencing, the journalists continue to risk their lives and fighting on their own front for the land by raising its voice, no matter the sacrifices.
As Shireen’s colleagues stated when mourning Jabr Abu Hadrous in December: “This [press] vest now represents the stone that will be the stumbling block in the face of the occupation, which cannot conceal the reality of what is happening in the Gaza Strip or its crimes.”
The resistance avenges our martyrs. The people rally behind their resistance to declare, “No to silencing our voices!” From Naji Al-Ali to Yasser Murtaja to Shireen Abu Akleh, to all journalists in Gaza. The march continues. In the words of Shireen, “This needs patience. Keep your morale high.”
Glory to our martyrs, and glory to those who raise the voice of the resistance.
source: RNN