Terrorist groups and autocrats routinely use intimidation to influence press coverage to their advantage. As CAMERA noted in a recent Washington Examiner op-ed, the Taliban, for example, has a long history of threatening journalists. And, as a recent assault by Fatah against two Washington Post reporters illustrates, the practice extends from Kabul to Ramallah and beyond.
AFP has finally fired Palestinian reporter Nasser Abu Baker whose partisan activity in senior posts at the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate embodies the Palestinian Authority ideal of "journalism in the service of the revolution," which inherently conflicts with the news agency's "rigorous neutrality."
Press and policymakers might obfuscate on the matter, but the facts are clear: the Houthis are a terrorist group. The Yemen-based organization receives arms and support from the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, and there is nothing ambiguous about their motto: "Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews and Victory to Islam."
For the last decade, organizations representing Israeli journalists have been banished from the International Federation of Journalists, the world's largest organization of media professionals, ostensibly due to the "non-payment of fees." For years, IFJ's has been overtly hostile to Israel while coddling the Palestinian government and union, which advanced a boycott of Israeli journalists.
Freedom of the press and freedom of expression exist only superficially in the Palestinian Authority, where the government has adopted the principle of "journalism in the service of the revolution," observes veteran Israeli journalist Yoni Ben-Menachem, targeted for reporting stories unfavorable to Palestinian officials.
Fatah, the ruling Palestinian party, published a threatening video inciting against Israeli journalists, and the International Federation of Journalists, the largest organization representing journalists internationally, has yet to voice any concern.
Jim Krane, of Rice University's Baker Institute, alleged in Forbes that "the Israeli president has been braying for America to attack Iran, just as he urged Congress to do in Iraq," and tenaciously clung to the unfounded falsehood when challenged about its veracity.
For four months, the New York Times didn't tell readers Iran was preventing its correspondent, Thomas Erdbrink, from reporting. Why? And what does it mean?
The Washington Post in particular seems to have lost the plot, giving a platform to the leader of an Iranian-backed regime that targets journalists even while it condemns Khashoggi's alleged murder.
Palestinian rulers oppressing and brutalizing their own people seldom make the front page. The reason is simple: The media is often uninterested in reporting on Palestinian affairs unless Israel can be blamed.
