BY: JOSEPH DEBELL, OPINION EDITOR
The killing of Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat in an Israeli attack on Gaza is another reminder of the United States’ complicity in the ongoing war against the Palestinian people.
Shabat was targeted while reporting from northern Gaza, a region devastated by relentless Israeli bombardment. His final words, shared in a prewritten post, urged the world not to look away.
“I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury,” Shabat wrote. “I slept on pavements, in schools, in tents — anywhere I could. Each day was a battle for survival. I endured hunger for months, yet I never left my people’s side.”
His death, alongside that of Mohammad Mansour of Palestine Today, adds to the growing number of journalists killed — 208 — since Israel’s genocidal actions, which started in October 2023.
The targeting of journalists in Gaza is not only a human rights violation — it’s an assault on truth itself.
Organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists have condemned these killings as war crimes. The United States, under the current Trump administration, has supplied Israel with nearly $3 billion in military aid. Funding Israel with military aid is enabling these deaths.
American taxpayers are funding Israel’s war machine, which has killed over 50,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 113,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
This financial support fuels airstrikes on hospitals, schools and homes, all under the guise of “self-defense.”
One question: What self-defense requires the starvation of a population, the targeting of journalists and the destruction of entire communities? The U.S. government’s commitment to arming Israel places it in direct violation of international law, making it complicit in genocide.
Hossam Shabat’s story is emblematic of Israel’s war on journalism. His home was bombed, his family displaced, and yet he refused to stop reporting.
“I haven’t eaten anything for two days,” Shabat told The Legal Agenda. “Over two days, I’ve drunk only lemon juice. Sometimes, hours pass without obtaining a loaf of bread or anything to assuage this hunger. I wake up in the morning, and my main concern is to find, document, and report the occupation’s crimes. This affects my ability to secure food. In northern Gaza today, you can either document the occupation’s crimes or obtain food, but not both at once.”
His mother, in one of their last exchanges, told him, “Don’t leave your camera, my son, even if your head is severed from your body. Continue documenting all the occupation’s crimes.”
Israel’s tactics go beyond airstrikes — they include a deliberate strategy of silencing the press. As long as the United States continues to send military aid to Israel, it’s endorsing the slaughter of Palestinian civilians and the suppression of free speech.
debelljb22@bonaventure.edu
