Israeli Journalist: Anas Sharif Was Assassinated Before the Occupation of Gaza and the Reason is Clear

SadaNews - In response to the assassination of journalist Anas Sharif, a reporter for Al Jazeera in the Gaza Strip, Israeli investigative journalist Yuval Abraham stated that he was a brave journalist who documented the genocide of his people to the world, questioning, "Why did Israel assassinate him on the eve of its plans for the city of Gaza? The answer is clear."

Abraham said: "After October 7, a team named 'the Legitimacy Cell' was established in the Israeli military intelligence division 'Aman'. It consisted of intelligence personnel looking for information to provide 'legitimacy' for the army's actions in Gaza, such as: failed rocket launches by Hamas, the use of human shields, the exploitation of civilian populations, and everything you know."

He added: "The main task of the Legitimacy Cell was to find Gazan journalists who could be presented in the media as Hamas operatives in disguise. They actively searched for journalists fitting this description, spending whole days on it, and found nothing."

He continued: "Why search for a disguised journalist? As I understand it, because it gives media 'legitimacy' to the ongoing killing of journalists in general. Just as it is enough to present one hospital as a Hamas headquarters to justify the destruction of the entire healthcare system, one failed rocket launch by Hamas that hits civilians is sufficient to claim that every civilian death is due to Hamas. It is a way of sowing doubt to justify atrocities. Finding a journalist as a disguised operative whitewashes the killing of all other journalists."

He added: "The Israeli army killed four journalists in Gaza last night. It acknowledged that the target was Anas Sharif. Over the past two years, Sharif had engaged in systematic and courageous journalism, documenting for the entire world the genocide his people face, while most of the Israeli press normalizes mass killing, starvation, and destruction, betraying their profession."

He said: "The betrayal continues now in the headlines reporting Sharif's death, fully adopting the statement of the Israeli army spokesperson. The army presented documents claiming that Sharif joined Hamas in 2013 when he was 17 years old. Any journalist who does not question the army spokesperson's statements at this stage, after countless lies, is betraying their profession."

He continued: "But even if we assume this is true, it changes nothing. By this logic, the vast majority of journalists in Israel, if any document shows they served in the army or performed reserve duty at any time, become legitimate targets for elimination. His location has been known for months, so why did they kill him now? On the eve of plans to occupy the city of Gaza? The answer is clear."

He added: "I believe that Israel killed Anas Sharif simply because he was a journalist. The documents were a means. And for the same reason they actively searched for journalists who could be presented as Hamas operatives, in order to provide 'legitimacy' to the killing of journalists in general, that is about 230 journalists that Israel has killed in Gaza since October 7. And for the same reason, international media is prevented from entering Gaza: so the world sees as little of the crimes as possible."