Dear Editor,
To set the records straight, I am neither a fan no supporter of Essa Faal. Following him currently on his appearances on social media, he appeared to be talking the talk most Gambians want to hear from a politician set out to oust Barrow in the 2026 presidential election. He is fired up to hold the unpleasant conversation and expose President Barrow as a failed leader supervising a corrupt system.
My reservations on Mr Faal is allowing his emotions to drag him off the professional political leader platform by going personal after Barrow and some of his prominent aides. If Essa Faal continues his onslaught in exposing and baring the ineptitude of the Barrow leadership and selling why Gambians need an alternative and a resilient leader in 2026, he will be the game changer. Gambia needs a leader that is bold, tenacious in combating corruption and ushering in strong institutional system changes. President Barrow has severally proven he is not the leader that can deliver Gambia from her deplorable economic state. Let see if Essa Faal will be the man of 2026 for the Gambian electorates.
Sulayman Jeng
UK
Silence on Israel’s massacres of journalists is dangerous to all
A December 26 press statement by the Israeli army attempted to justify a war crime. It unabashedly admitted that the military incinerated five Palestinian journalists in a clearly marked press vehicle outside al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip.
The five victims were Ibrahim Sheikh Ali, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan, Mohammed al-Ladaa, Fadi Hassouna, and Ayman al-Gedi. Ayman had arrived at the hospital with his wife who was about to give birth to their first baby; he was visiting his colleagues in the vehicle when it was struck. His baby boy was born several hours later and now carries the name of his father who was not allowed to live long enough to celebrate his birth.
The Israeli army statement claimed that the five Palestinians were “operatives posing as journalists” and that they disseminated “combat propaganda” because they worked for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. The Israeli army made no claims that they were actually carrying weapons or involved in any armed action.
Many Western publications quoted the Israeli army statement as if it was an objective position and not propaganda whitewashing a war crime. They failed to clarify to their audiences that attacking journalists, including journalists who may be accused of promoting “propaganda”, is a war crime; all journalists are protected under international humanitarian law, regardless of whether armies like their reporting or not.
The Geneva Conventions Article 79 of the Additional Protocol states that all journalists “engaged in dangerous professional missions in armed conflict areas shall be considered civilians … [and] shall be protected […] and without prejudice to the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces”.
Completely disregarding these provisions of international law, the Israeli army has gone on a killing spree of Palestinian journalists over the past 15 months. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, 201 have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Other counts put the number at 217.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), some 138 Palestinian journalists were killed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank between October 7, 2023 and December 31, 2024. The organisation counted the five victims of the Israeli army’s attack on December 26 in the tally.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders described the Israeli killing of journalists as “an unprecedented bloodbath” and Palestine as “the most dangerous country for journalists”. CPJ has also listed Israel as one of the top “jailers of journalists”.
Israel not only refuses to recognise any Palestinian media worker as being protected, but it also bars foreign journalists from entering Gaza.
It has been truly disturbing that the international media has done little to protest this ban. Except for one petition signed by 60 media outlets over the summer, the international media has not followed up consistently on such demands over 15 months.
If a major media organisation is not given access to a particular location, an indication of this ban is frequently attached to news reports as a form of protest. However, in the case of Gaza, Israel is given a pass, especially by mainstream Western media, with the Israeli press releases regularly passed on as facts.
This complacency has allowed Israel to control the narrative and propagate its claim that this is a defensive war carried out by “the most moral army” in the world within the parameters of international law.
While United Nations experts, some Israeli NGOs like B’Tselem, and every major international rights organisation have denounced Israel’s actions, the legacy media continues to give it the benefit of the doubt. In the rare cases where Western outlets have investigated Israeli claims, as The New York Times did recently, the findings overwhelmingly repeat reports that Arab and some left-wing Israeli media had made months before, outlining grave crimes being committed.
One of the reasons why we have gotten to the point where Israel, the self-proclaimed “only democracy in the Middle East”, massacres journalists with impunity is because it was never held accountable for its gradual intensification of violence against media workers all these years.
Daoud Kuttab
Palestinian journalist
