Free Speech in Gaza?

Does free speech exist in the Middle East?

We know it exists in Israel, where democracy and Western values are paramount. Although – yes – Al Jazeera was recently shut down in Israel, in a symbolic act to say that the Jewish state will no longer put up with a terror puppet publication constantly spewing lies and propaganda about Israel. Was Al Jazeera presenting a security threat? Arguably. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt have all banned Al Jazeera at various points in time, and nobody complained, not that Israel wants to be lumped in with those countries, of course. Perhaps it was a slippery slope to close Al Jazeera down in Israel. Regardless, that is the only example I can think of that could be manipulated by anti-Israel voices to suggest that free speech is not a right held to the highest standards in Israel.

Does free speech exist in other Arab nations and territories, Gaza included, where many civil liberties, including the right to be gay or lesbian or trans or the right to be a woman with her hair showing is not acceptable? Do you think free speech exists in these places? The President of Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan – holds a world record for arresting journalists and closing down critical media outlets. Insult him at your peril. Tens of thousands have been charged and sentenced over the crime of insulting him in the decade since he became president. Great place for defenders of free speech and human rights to vacation though, right?!

In Iran is there freedom of press? Can people read whatever literature they want? Can you read Lolita in Tehran? I hope you understand that these are rhetorical questions… So if Gaza is run by an Iranian terror proxy, how legitimate are Gazan journalists? Are they real or are they fronts, paid for by Iran or Qatar? Who’s to say that a journalist in Gaza is any different from a spokesperson for the “Gaza Ministry of Health”? Al Jazeera is partially funded by the Qatari government, FYI. The same Qatari government that funds Hamas, holds funerals for the likes of Ismail Haniyeh, and puts Hamas leaders up in Doha’s Four Seasons Hotel. Here is one of Haniyeh’s sons in said Four Seasons.

Anway, back to free speech and real journalism. What constitutes a journalist in Gaza, a territory under the control of Iranian terror proxy Hamas? And who are the UN international human rights lawyers such as Francesca Albanese who are being hired to take on the cases of their killings as a “free speech” issue and therefore potential war crime against humanity? Today I saw a post claiming to represent such issues in which it was stated that since October 7, 113 journalists have been killed by the IDF in Gaza. I fixed it.

In case you think I’m being sensationalist, I’ll give you the most recent and extensive example of one of these “journalist”s. A few days ago, Ismail al-Ghoul, a journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed in a blast in Gaza. Al-Ghoul was a Hamas Nukba terrorist who participated in October 7th. He was a vital cog in the wheel of Hamas’s military wing, in fact, and he instructed other “journalists” in how to record and publicize attacks against the IDF. If you look up Al-Ghoul’s official X, Telegram and Facebook accounts for the purposes of his reporting, you will see that all of them were created between November 2023 and February 2024. Curious timing, wouldn’t you say?

Unfortunately for Al-Ghoul, he also had a personal Facebook page that predated the “professional” one, and he didn’t delete it. On his personal page, he wasn’t shy about praising his mighty leader Yahya Sinwar.

Eitan Fischberger, journalist for NBC and the Wall Street Journal, did some digital Mossad style sleuthing and found a whole treasure trove of Al-Ghoul’s prior content, praising various terror attacks. He found previously disabled online Twitter accounts for his work at official Hamas-run publications, Felesteen and Al-Resalah. He worked for many outlets that were run by Hamas before switching to Al Jazeera just after October 7; Al Jazeera being the Westernized “legitimate” face of Iranian propaganda. Al-Ghoul was not a “journalist”, he was a propagandist, who worked for Hamas. Al-Ghoul was a terrorist.

Fischberger is doing tremendous work uncovering the facts in the cases of many similar “journalists”. Follow his thread here.

It would seem that some of these "journalists" who have been killed in the war in Gaza are terrorists moonlighting as "journalists". Some or perhaps all — we’ll have to break down and analyze each individual case. But human rights activists and human rights lawyers really ought to start prioritizing the truth over their antisemitism and anti-Israel bias before they begin to make such fleeting infographics and statements, amounting to blood libel. The only people who could consistently believe that this is a matter of protecting free speech and REAL JOURNALISM are people who believe that free speech is best served by protecting extremists who want to destroy Western civilization, and in turn everyone else’s free speech. Such free speech frauds are likely gathering accolades in other areas of human rights along the way to make their brand of free speech advocacy appear more legitimate. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the expert when it comes to mastering this type of global gaslighting and propaganda.

Please note that the same free speech warriors who "care" about these issues were silent on October 7, silent on the hostages, silent when 12 Arab Israeli children were murdered in Israel last weekend by Hezbollah, and silent about rocket attacks on Israelis every day. During these moments, they seem to be struggling with free speech, or any speech at all. Their speech is suppressed during those moments by some unidentified restraint upon their tongues. These are fake Western humanitarians who prey on the perceived victimhood of others while fetishizing Arabs to bolster their own personal hype of moral piety. They’re oh so good for the world so long as it’s oh so good for them – and their Instagram following/bank account.

I mentioned Turkey. In Turkey today, they held a day of mourning for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. In Tel Aviv, the Turkish embassy flew its flag at half mast in honor of Hamas’s Heinrich Himmler. Despicable. And yet, in today’s Olympic women’s judo competition, Israel’s Raz Hershko defeated the Turkish opponent in 15 seconds, winning herself a silver medal. It was karmically stunning. When will people learn not to fuck with us.

Gwarn lass.