Journalists get shot, too

Smadar — Tue, 06 May 2003 08:28:41 +0000

Für mich stellt sich hier die Frage, ob
Militäreinsätze besser verlaufen würden, wenn
nicht so viele oder keine Journalisten dabei
wären.

Vorläufig denke ich : nein. Miller hat seinen Job
gemacht und verdient dafür unsere Anerkennung.
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Journalists get shot, too

James Miller, a British cameraman working for an
American TV network, was killed this weekend while
his team tried to document a chapter in the
violent conflict between the Israelis and
Palestinians: Palestinian attempts to smuggle
munitions from Egypt to Gaza and from there to
terror attacks in Israeli cities, and Israel
Defense Forces efforts to demolish the tunnels and
the houses that camouflage them. Miller is the
eighth non-Israeli journalist to be killed in the
past two and a half years of conflict. A cameraman
for the IDF Spokesman´s Office was killed, and
several Israeli reporters have been wounded or
escaped by the skin of their teeth.

Civilians being killed in the cross fire is a
painful by-product of conflict, even if it is
caused by accident, in the chaos of friction
between the sides, and not maliciously.
Defenseless babies, pregnant women, the elderly
and infirm have lost their lives in terrible
circumstances and journalists are no different,
except in one aspect - they chose their mission.
When they reach the scene, however, they are as
subject as anyone else to the grace of time and
place and those who pull the triggers on both
sides.

The IDF has matured in the decade and a half since
the first intifada broke out. Its commanders no
longer hurry to declare some place "a closed
military area" and its soldiers no longer make the
foolish gesture of covering a camera lens with
their hand. The struggle for international
legitimacy - on the political, legal and moral
planes - taught the army the wisdom of
transparency, which restrains the forces,
immunizes against claims of war crimes and is
testimony that the State of Israel and the IDF
have nothing to hide, strengthening the connection
between the public and the army and its people.
The general staff now concedes it was wrong to
prevent journalists from joining the forces in
Operation Defensive Shield, especially in Jenin.
... Rest auf

www.haaretzdaily.com

- Journalists get shot, too

Journalists get shot, too