Experts assess media coverage of situation in Gaza on Ray Hanania show

Ray Hanania was joined by Ignacio Miguel Delgado (L), Mohammed Najib (C) and Andrew Friedman (R). (Screenshot/Supplied)
Short Url
Updated 20 May 2021
Follow

Experts assess media coverage of situation in Gaza on Ray Hanania show

  • ‘So far we have documented the destruction of at least 18 media outlets’ by Israeli forces, says specialist from Committee to Protect Journalists
  • Palestinian and Jewish reporters agree they have to deal with censorship, and public pressure to promote one side of the story at the expense of objectivity

CHICAGO: The office of the Associated Press (AP) in Gaza City, which was destroyed by the Israeli bombing of Al-Jalaa tower last weekend, is just one of 18 media sites attacked by Israel during its current conflict with the Palestinians.

The shocking figure was given on Wednesday, during a discussion on a US radio show sponsored by Arab News, by Ignacio Miguel Delgado, a specialist on the Middle East and North Africa with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The non-profit global organization promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.

In addition, an Israeli and a Palestinian journalist who also took part in the discussion said they are forced to work under oppressive restrictions that include censorship of their reports by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) or the Palestinian National Authority.

0 seconds of 55 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:55
00:55
 

 

Delgado said that while journalists in many countries in the region, including Syria and Iraq, face great risks, those who are covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict face the greatest personal danger.

“The situation right now for journalists in the Gaza Strip is very dire,” he said. “Right now they are either covering the news and covering the air strikes and military operations, or running for cover because they have nowhere to hide.

“So far we have documented the destruction of at least 18 media outlets. There may be more but, so far, that is what we documented. Three buildings hosting and housing these media outlets, production companies and broadcast services were bombed to the ground.

“The justification for that by the IDF is that Hamas was using these buildings for military purposes but so far we haven’t seen any evidence of that activity and we would like to see that if that is the case.”

0 seconds of 50 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:50
00:50
 

 

Israeli forces intentionally targeted and destroyed Al-Jalaa tower on May 15. In addition to the AP offices, the building also housed Al Jazeera and several other media operations. The IDF said it was also used by Hamas militants but the AP and the CPJ said there is no evidence of this.

Delgado said there is evidence, however, that Israel is targeting journalists who report on the destruction by Israeli forces of civilian targets, as well as alleged military targets.

“A few days before the bombing of Al-Jalaa building there were two (other) buildings (destroyed): the Jawhara building and Al-Sharouk building, which were housing several local media outlets — Al-Mamlaka channel from Jordan, for example,” Delgado said. “Others were housing the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV. There were plenty of local-media outlets.

“And the problem is that with the destruction of these buildings, many journalists have lost their equipment. They were given some time to evacuate the buildings but they of course couldn’t take everything with them — all their broadcasting equipment, cameras and such. So many journalists are now deprived of the tools to do their jobs properly.”

The Israeli military contacted the 18 targeted media locations to give them advance warning of the attacks and a chance to evacuate. However, several journalists have been killed or injured during the current and previous conflicts.

“In Gaza we have seen at least 18 journalists killed since the CPJ started to keep records in 1992,” Delgado said. “In this conflict, we woke up today to the news of the killing of a journalist. We have had another three journalists killed who were covering air strikes in Gaza. The region is one of the most dangerous regions for journalists.”

Israeli journalist Andrew Friedman, from Efrat, and Palestinian journalist Mohammed Najib, from Ramallah, told Hanania that they are forced by the Israeli and Palestinian governments to censor their reports on the conflict.

0 seconds of 50 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:50
00:50
 

 

“In this ongoing mini-war, the IDF didn’t allow the international media to enter Gaza since the start of the mini-war for nine days; today (Wednesday) was the first day that they allowed foreign correspondents to enter the Gaza to cover this war,” Najib said from his offices in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where he has worked as a freelance reporter for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other major publications.

“More than that, everyone saw the bombing of Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza (which was based) on allegations that Hamas is based at that tower — but all the reports from Gaza deny that.”

Friedman, a former op-ed editor at the Jerusalem Post and former editor of Yedioth Aharonoth, acknowledged that like Palestinian reporters, Israeli journalists are also faced with official censorship and an audience that is hostile to the opposing viewpoint. But he said he does not think the IDF is intentionally targeting the news media in Gaza or anywhere else.

“It’s certainly true that many Israelis feel an unrepentant hostility toward the media,” he said. “I find it difficult to believe the army is going after the media intentionally.

“First of all I think the army has better things to do. But … with all due respect to Ignacio, who is a very good reporter, if the building was under the use of Hamas, I don’t think he would be free to report that. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to go back to Gaza and report that anymore.”

However, Friedman added: “I don’t have a lot of confidence in the military’s justification, and I don’t have a lot of confidence in the Palestinian side’s accusations.

“For Israelis and their supporters, the story is absolutely clear: small Jewish country attacked by rockets — what do you want them to do? From the perspective of Palestinians and their supporters, it is equally clear: an occupied country under attack in Jerusalem and in Gaza — what do you want them to do?”

Najib agreed that the public in both Palestine and Israel expect journalists to promote their side of the conflict, rather than remain objective.

“I can say after (many) years in journalism, the most difficult job is to be a journalist,” he said. “According to the Palestinian culture and the Israeli culture, (the people) ask, ‘Are you for us or against us?’

“And I tell them, why I should be classified or defined to be with you or against you. I am not against anyone. We must be professional journalists.”

* The Ray Hanania Radio Show is broadcast live on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Detroit and on WDMV AM 700 Radio in Washington DC on the US Arab Radio Network, and is sponsored by Arab News. For more information about the show and to listen to previous episodes, visit ArabNews.com/RayRadioShow.


Pope pens letter to the editor while in hospital as Buckingham Palace announces King Charles’ visit

Updated 19 March 2025
Follow

Pope pens letter to the editor while in hospital as Buckingham Palace announces King Charles’ visit

  • Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter to the editor from Francis, signed and dated March 14 from Rome’s Gemelli hospital

ROME: Pope Francis said in a letter published Tuesday that his lengthy illness has helped make “more lucid” to him the absurdity of war, as his top deputy rejected any suggestion of resignation and Buckingham Palace announced plans for an upcoming audience with Britain’s King Charles III.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter to the editor from Francis, signed and dated March 14 from Rome’s Gemelli hospital where the 88-year-old pontiff has been treated since Feb. 14 for a complex lung infection and double pneumonia.
In it, Francis renewed his call for diplomacy and international organizations to find a “new vitality and credibility.” And he said that his own illness had also helped make some things clearer to him, including the “absurdity of war.”
“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” he wrote.
Responding to a letter from the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Luciano Fontana, Francis also urged him and all those in the media to “feel the full importance of words.”
“They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends,” he wrote. “We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth.”
The letter was published as Francis registered slight improvements in his treatment and as the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, shot down any suggestion the pope might resign.
“Absolutely no,” Parolin told journalists on Monday when asked if he and the pope had discussed a resignation. Parolin has visited Francis twice during his hospitalization, most recently on March 2, and said he found Francis better than during his first Feb. 25 visit.
Also on Tuesday, Francis received a standing ovation from the Italian Senate, after Premier Giorgia Meloni sent her greetings and said “not just this chamber, but all of the Italian people″ wish the pope a full recovery “as soon as possible.”
Meloni, who was the first outsider to visit the pope after he was hospitalized, said that “even in a trying moment, his strength and guidance have been felt.”
Francis for the second day spent some time off high flows of oxygen and used just ordinary supplemental oxygen delivered by a nasal tube, the Holy See press office said Tuesday. In addition, for the first time in several weeks he didn’t use the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night at all, to force his lungs to work more.
While those amount to “slight improvements,” the Vatican isn’t yet providing any timetable on when he might be released. That said, Buckingham Palace announced Monday that King Charles III was scheduled to meet with Francis on April 8 at the Vatican, assuming he is back and well enough.
Such state visits are always closely organized with Parolin’s office. However, the Vatican press office on Tuesday declined to confirm the visit, noting that the Holy See only confirms papal audiences shortly before they happen.
The developments came as the Vatican released some details on the first photograph of Francis released since his hospitalization. The image, taken Sunday from behind, showed Francis sitting in his wheelchair in his private chapel in prayer without any sign of nasal tubes.
The photo, showing Francis wearing a Lenten purple stole, followed an audio message the pope recorded March 6 in which he thanked people for their prayers, his voice soft and labored.
Together, they suggested Francis is very much controlling how the public follows his illness to prevent it from turning into a spectacle. While many in the Vatican have held up St. John Paul II’s long and public battle with Parkinson’s disease and other ailments as a humble sign of his willingness to show his frailties, others criticized it as excessive and glorifying sickness.
The image certainly reassured some well-wishers who came to Gemelli to pray for Francis, who is recovering in the 10th-floor papal suite reserved for popes.
“After a month of hospitalization, finally a photo that can assure us that his health conditions are better,” said the Rev. Enrico Antonio, a priest from Pescara.
But Benedetta Flagiello of Naples, who was visiting her sister at Gemelli, wondered if the photo was even real.
“Because if the pope can sit for a moment without a mask, without anything, why didn’t he look out the window on the 10th floor to be seen by everyone?” she asked. “If you remember our old pope (John Paul II), he couldn’t speak up, but he showed up.”


Manga Productions looks to attract Japanese investment for Riyadh Season

Updated 19 March 2025
Follow

Manga Productions looks to attract Japanese investment for Riyadh Season

  • New pact inked with entertainment firm Sela
  • Promotions to take place at Anime Japan 2025

RIYADH: Manga Productions, a subsidiary of the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, or Misk, has signed a new strategic partnership with the Saudi Arabia entertainment company Sela.

The partnership aims to strengthen collaboration with renowned Japanese companies and create new opportunities for their participation in Riyadh Season, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.

Potential collaborations will enable Japanese companies to engage with Saudi Arabia and international audiences through events and experiences in the Kingdom with the facilitation of Manga Productions, the SPA reported.

In 2022, Sela unveiled a 33-meter-tall statue of the anime character Grendizer, which set a Guinness World Record during Riyadh Season of that year.

This year, Manga Productions announced its official sponsorship of Anime Japan 2025, one of the world’s leading events in the creative industry.

During the event from March 22 to 25, the company’s booth will promote investment opportunities, according to the SPA.

This article also appears on Arab News Japan


Sharjah Media City offers new ‘Mazeed’ service for entrepreneurs

Sharjah Media City is offering a new service called Mazeed. (Supplied)
Updated 18 March 2025
Follow

Sharjah Media City offers new ‘Mazeed’ service for entrepreneurs

  • It provides a wide range of tailored options that simplify set-up and expansion of small and medium-sized businesses, to help foster innovation and creativity
  • Strategic partnerships with several business-services companies offer seamless access to essential financial and operational services and tools

SHARJAH: Sharjah Media City, also known as Shams, is offering a new service, called Mazeed, designed to empower entrepreneurs and provide integrated solutions for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The new service offers a wide range of tailored options that simplify the formation or expansion of a business, including financial solutions, digital marketing, legal consultancy and operational services, Shams said, to help foster an environment that promotes innovation and creativity in support of a thriving business ecosystem, it added.

“The launch of Mazeed aligns with Shams’ strategy to support entrepreneurs and enhance entrepreneurship in Sharjah and the UAE by providing practical solutions that simplify business management, reduce operational costs and promote sustainability and growth,” Shams said.

Rashid Abdullah Al-Obad, the director of Shams, said the new service represents a step forward in the enhancement of digital innovation in the business environment.

“Mazeed aims to simplify the journey of entrepreneurs, enabling them to focus on growing their businesses instead of dealing with complex operational procedures,” he added.

“The launch of Mazeed aligns with Sharjah’s vision to support a sustainable economy and foster investment while enhancing the customer experience by offering innovative services that effectively meet the needs of the business sector.”

Shams also said it has formed strategic partnerships with business-services companies Aura, Peko and Qashio to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with seamless access to essential financial and operational services, to help ensure that business owners have the tools they need to optimize operations.

Aura will provide access to flexible financing solutions, including invoice financing for business-to-business transactions and installment payment plans for licensing fees. Such services offer greater financial flexibility, which helps businesses maintain operational stability and drive growth.

Through Peko, businesses can access essential business services such as utility bill payments, mobile bill management, flight and hotel bookings and payroll processing. Peko also offers advice on digital business tools, such as WhatsApp for Business and electronic signatures, that can simplify operations.

Qashio focuses on advanced financial-management solutions, including expense management, virtual bank account creation, and a rewards system using Qashio Points. The partnership also includes a revenue-sharing model.

Shams said Mazeed will continue to form new strategic partnerships in various sectors as part of its strategy to expand the services on offer to entrepreneurs, and more announcements are expected soon.

The aim of such collaborations is to drive business innovation and provide cutting-edge solutions that help support the sustainability and growth of startups in the UAE, it added.


Saudi wildlife documentaries receive top honors at Muse Creative Awards

Updated 18 March 2025
Follow

Saudi wildlife documentaries receive top honors at Muse Creative Awards

  • ‘Guardians of the Red Sea: The Hidden World Beneath,’ ‘Hope is Growing,’ ‘Horizon’ each win 2 platinum awards

LONDON: Three documentaries showcasing Saudi Arabia’s wildlife have won a total of six platinum awards at the Muse Creative Awards, which honor excellence in innovative and creative filmmaking worldwide, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.

“Guardians of the Red Sea: The Hidden World Beneath” earned two platinum awards in the Nature and Wildlife, and Documentary categories, while “Hope is Growing,” which explores the propagation and reintroduction of endangered species, secured platinum awards in the Music Film and Nature, and Wildlife Films sections.

“Horizon,” which was produced in collaboration with the Center for Government Communication, took platinum awards in the Cinematography, and Documentary Film tracks.

Established in 2015 by the International Awards Associate, the Muse Creative Awards have become one of the most prestigious events in digital media, design, and marketing, attracting over 100,000 entries from more than 120 countries.

The award-winning films showcase the Kingdom’s rich biodiversity and natural landscapes, helping to raise public awareness of environmental conservation. They also underscore Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to protect wildlife, preserve ecosystems, and promote sustainable environmental practices.

Arab News hosted a special screening of the “Horizon” documentary at the residence of the EU ambassador in Riyadh in April 2024, where Abdullah Alahmari, CEO of the Konoz initiative, and Yazeed Albader, associate producer of the documentary, were honored. Speaking at the event, Princess Lamia described the film as “not only a celebration of Saudi Arabia’s rich natural heritage but also a call to action — a reminder of our shared responsibility to protect and conserve the precious ecosystems that define our world.”

Now available on streaming giant Netflix, “Horizon” is part of a collaboration between the Ministry of Media’s Center for Government Communication, and the National Center for Wildlife, celebrating the rich natural diversity of the Kingdom.

Several other Saudi entries were also recognized at the ceremony, including “Start Your Championship,” a film which chronicles the first national Olympics in Saudi history; “Challenge is Our Nature,” a documentary which follows the Dakar Rally in the Kingdom; “Race the Sunset,” a celebration of youth spirit and culture during the GT race in Jeddah; and “We Race the Future,” a film about the Saudi Arabian Formula One Grand Prix in Jeddah.


Telegram’s Durov says ‘great to be home’ after leaving France

Updated 17 March 2025
Follow

Telegram’s Durov says ‘great to be home’ after leaving France

  • Russian-born founder of messaging app was allowed to temporarily return to Dubai after receiving permission from the investigating magistrates
  • France authorities arrested, charged him with several counts of failing to curb “extremist” and “terrorist” content

PARIS: The Russian-born founder of messaging app Telegram Pavel Durov on Monday said it was “great to be home” after he was allowed to temporarily return to Dubai from France despite being investigated over illegal content on the popular service.
Durov, 40, was arrested in France last year, held for several days and charged over illegal content that was being posted on Telegram by users. He was released but not allowed to leave the country.
But he returned to the United Arab Emirates, where he lives and has nationality, at the weekend after receiving permission from the investigating magistrates in charge of the case to leave France.
“As you may have heard, I’ve returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an investigation related to the activity of criminals on Telegram,” Durov wrote in a post on Telegram.
“The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home,” he said.
He thanked the investigative judges “for letting this happen,” while adding that “for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”
Durov was able to leave France after the investigating judges — for a period of March 15 to April 7 — relieved him of his obligations under the measures of judicial control that had been imposed on him after he was released last year, the office of the Paris prosecutor told AFP on Monday.
He had been expected to report to police twice a week and was banned from leaving French territory, as well as posting five million euros in bail.
His August 2024 arrest was the first time the founder of a social media company was arrested over content on their platform. With more than 900 million active users, Telegram is one of top messaging apps in the world.
After days of questioning following his arrest, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb “extremist” and “terrorist” content.
Extracts from Durov’s questioning in December through an interpreter and seen by AFP showed that he initially blamed French authorities for failing to alert Telegram to alleged criminal activity.
He nevertheless admitted that, while in custody, he “realized the seriousness of all the allegations.”