Israel just bombed a Gaza City office building into a pile of smoking dust. Not just any office building, but the one containing the offices of news outlets Associated Press and Al Jazeera. It seems that Hamas also had offices in the building. After that, they went after a top Hamas Commander at his home but haven’t confirmed that he’s dead yet. The Palestinians are hopping mad, and so is Rashida Tlaib.
Israel not playing
On Saturday afternoon local time in the Mid-East, which was the early hours of Saturday morning in the U.S., Israel boldly launched a precision surgical airstrike on “a multi-story building which contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization.”
Hamas tried to hide behind civilians and it didn’t work. The owner of the building got a call from IDF saying “have everyone out of the building in an hour.” They weren’t playing.
Associated press, as soon as they got over the shock of watching all their equipment, files and phones get vaporized, issued a statement whining about the IDF daring to blow up the building they work in, just because it was infested with terrorists.
“For 15 years, the AP’s top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israel’s conflicts with Gaza’s Hamas rulers,” they write. “The news agency’s camera offered 24-hour live shots as militants’ rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surrounding area this week.”
The 11-storey al-Jalaa building is also HQ for Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, along with a number of residences and other offices.
The Israeli military said its “fighter jets struck a multi-story building which contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization” The Palestinians call that “a claim that was vehemently rejected.” Israel is sticking to it.
We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) May 15, 2021
AP Shocked and horrified
Associated Press president and CEO Gary Pruitt is “shocked and horrified” by what Israel just did. Their military, he insists, has “long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life.”
“A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time. The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today.”
Hamas started the recent exchange of rockets when they started taking pot shots at Jerusalem. Hamas militants have reportedly “fired more than 2,000 rockets at Israel” during the latest violence. Since Monday night alone, “Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets” which were answered by the IDF with strikes of their own.
Al Jazeera doesn’t like the feeling of being “canceled.” They call it “a brazen attempt to ‘silence’ journalists covering the Israeli military’s ongoing offensive that has killed scores of people.” Senior political analyst Marwan Bishara relates, “The attack is on journalism, the attack is on information. The freedom and flow of information.”
Al-Jazeera broadcast a clip of building’s owner Jawwad Mahdi “pleading over the phone” with an intelligence officer in Israel. He wanted time to rescue some gear.
“All I’m asking is to let four people to go inside and get their cameras. We respect your wishes, we will not do it if you don’t allow it, but give us 10 minutes.” The officer rejected the request. They broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.
Israel targeting media sources is so the world can't see Israel's war crimes led by the apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu.
It's so the world can't see the killing of babies, children and their parents.
It's so the world can't see Palestinians being massacred. https://t.co/AvDp3IuxUA
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 15, 2021
Hamas was the target
An official spokesperson insists that Hamas was the target, no matter what Palestine says. Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus rejected the notion that Israel was seeking to silence the media. “That is totally false, the media is not the target,” he informed Reuters.
The building “contained Hamas military intelligence. Hamas, he notes, “might have calculated that by placing their ‘assets’ inside a building with news media offices in it ‘they probably hoped that would keep them safe from Israeli attack.’ Obviously, it didn’t.
When Reuters wanted to know why entire building was destroyed by Israel, Conricus responded, that “there was no way of taking down only the Hamas facilities that were in the building.”
“They occupied several floors in the building and it was impossible only to take down those floors. It was deemed necessary to take down the whole building.”
The Imperial Palace is standing back and watching. His Wisdom Joe Biden has “urged a deescalation in the 5-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, but has publicly backed Israel’s right to self-defense from Hamas rockets fired from Gaza.” According to official Palace Spokesunit, Jen Psaki, “We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.”
Meanwhile, back-stabbing traitor Rashida Tlaib couldn’t resist putting her two cents in, Accusing the IDF on Twitter “of targeting media so that the world can’t see Palestinians being massacred.” Hours later, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a top leader of Gaza’s ruling militant Hamas group. “His fate after the strike was not immediately known.”
