ISRAEL MURDERS A PROMINENT PALESTINIAN JOURNALIST
G S Kumar
G S Kumar is a veteran journalist and broadcaster. He actually began his journalistic career with the Asian Defence Journal (ADJ) back in 1974 as an Assistant Editor. He returned to broadcasting and spent the next 17 years on both sides of the Causeway before ending his stint as an Executive Producer with Current Affairs in Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Then from 1988 till now he has served with The Straits Times (Singapore), SingTel Yellow Pages and even with The Malaysian Reserve. He is keen on news and current affairs and the “plight of mankind” in an ever changing world.
On May 12th 2022, Israeli forces shot dead a prominent Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, a 20-year veteran and a voice of the Palestinian cause.
Born in 1971 of Palestinian Christian family in East Jerusalem, she was on assignment at a refugee camp in occupied Jenin.
She spent her whole life in the cause of her beloved country, Palestine. Sadly she never lived to see the true birth of that state as she was sadly cut down by a rouge force of Israeli troops. Yet Palestine will arise one day.
For far too long, the state of Israel which was created by the United Nations, has spurned the rest of the world. The country never obeyed any resolutions passed, instead set about expanding its territory, annexing land on the West Bank and from Jordan. They even annexed East Jerusalem which has the holy Al Aqsa mosque, the third most important site in Islam.
Muslims have been subjected to undue torture and pressure with the rest of the world unable and unwilling to do anything against Israel. With the backing of he so-called Superpowers, the USA and Great Britain, no resolution has been passed against Israel, except for one which declared the annexation of East Jerusalem as illegal.
Israel does not adhere to the International Criminal Court (ICC). No country has ever taken action against the Jewish state, except Malaysia, when the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War (KLFCW) pressed charges against Israel and an international tribunal of judges found Israel guilty of Crimes Against Humanity in 2012.
But with no powers to enforce the findings, the KLFCW verdict was merely recorded in the UN itself. Such is the impunity with which this state of Israel exists.
Recently the people of occupied Palestine observed the 70th anniversary of Nakba, a day which marked the destruction of original Palestinian homes, forceful occupation these centuries old homes and even lands.
The rogue nation even built a wall to keep out Palestinians from crossing into lands which the occupiers claimed to build settlements.
Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the face, on purpose while doing what she had done for Al Jazeera for two decades – telling the truth.
She continued to tell the truth about how Israel bludgeoned, murdered, forced, evicted, jailed Palestinians for decades.
The people she spoke for were traumatised daily, most were jobless. They faced death on a daily basis, did not matter if they were Muslim or even Christian. As long as they were Palestinian, this was their daily situation.
Shireen was murdered by Israeli snipers. She had a helmet and her Press jacket on. She knew the risks involved yet she went to the refugee camp in Jenin. She was accorded a state funeral by the Palestinian Authority and her casket was met by the President Mahmood Abbas.
She was given her rites in a Roman Cathotic Church and her body was kept overnight in a hospital. But early in the morning of her funeral, Israeli forces rushed into the hospital and hurt 13 civilians before her casket was taken on her last final journey to a Protestant cemetery and laid to rest between the graves of her parents.
However her last journey was marred by violence as Israeli police attacked the casket carriers and almost caused it to fall. But willing hands held it upright.
The Scriptures say that the Jews are the chosen people. It can’t be true anymore for the Jews even rejected God’s only son and crucified Him. Today, for the rest of the world, Israel is seen as the pariah nation and not God’s chosen people. We, those who have suffered, are the new chosen people.
