Israel’s ban on foreign journalists in Gaza fuels antisemitism
On June 26, 2025, I watched Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, report on aid distribution in Gaza. He called it “a killing zone” and that 410 people have been shot to death obtaining aid in Gaza, strongly implying that it was the result of bullets from the IDF. He reported on a 6 year old boy, brought into a Gazan hospital, allegedly shot in the process of obtaining aid, and is now, allegedly, paralyzed for life, according to his Palestinian doctor. Except Engel did not use the words “allegedly” like I just did.
When an American TV viewer watches dispatches like this, the viewer assumes that the IDF randomly kills starving people who are desperate for food aid in Gaza. The report gives the impression that the IDF, and, by extension, the State of Israel, and Jews in general, are heartless killers of defenseless people. This story undoubtedly fuels anti-Israel and and antisemitism feelings in the United States. But there have been many stories like Mr. Engel’s. I realize that it may be Hamas doing the killing to stop Israel from providing food aid, which, in the past, Hamas had stolen and resold to the people of Gaza, to fuel their war machine. But the world is not being given the Israeli version of what is happening.
Normally, in most wars that the United States has fought, journalists are embedded with the troops, so that the journalist can provide the truth about what is going on in the war. This has the beneficial effect of spiking lies that the enemy is providing the media. But Israel’s policy since October 7th, is not to allow foreign correspondents into Gaza on their own or embedded with troops, except for a few hours of tightly controlled access by the IDF, for a very few independent reporters. The Foreign Press Association has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to allow foreign reporters independent access to Gaza, but, as the Times of Israel reported on January 10, 2024, the Court said that Israel can keep barring foreign reporters from Gaza. The Court accepted the IDF’s position that the Army is doing enough for press freedom and denied foreign reporters access citing the “security concerns” of the IDF. These concerns involve the security risk to the journalists lives, and risks to IDF soldiers, as a reporter may inadvertently give away IDF’s forces positions and put the IDF at risk, thus endangering the war effort.
What is the result of the Israel’s ban on foreign correspondents independently reported on the war in Gaza?? As reporter Dahlia Scheindlin, of Haaretz, said in an article published on May 21, 2025: “Is there famine in Gaza??” “Does Hamas steal humanitarian aid??” Is Israel “killing babies”, as Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party in Israel recently said”?? None of these allegations can be answered by foreign reporters truthfully reporting from Gaza. What does happen, however, is that Palestinian journalists do the reporting, as Ms. Scheindlin said, “feeding millions of screens via al Jazeera or providing material to international networks”. Palestinian reporters, partial to Hamas, thus are providing Hamas’ version of the war, instead of Israel’s, fueling lies about Israel, and provoking antisemitism and anti-Israel passions around the world.
If Israel wants the truth to be told about what is going on in Gaza, Israel must reverse its ban on foreign journalists independently reporting on the war. Is it not, as the Foreign Press Association said in its petition to the Supreme Court, that it is “in the public interest to get a fuller picture of the conditions inside Gaza”?? By not allowing foreign journalists into Gaza, or allowing them to be embedded with the IDF for a long period of time, only the Palestinian side of the war is being told around the world, fueling lies about the IDF, Israel and Jews in general, and fueling verbal and physical attacks on Jews around the world.
