Press Release: Veritas Press C.I.C.
Author: Kamran Faqir
Article Date Published: 08 Aug 2025 at 17:55 GMT
Category: Middle East | Lebanon | US-Israel At War
Source(s): Veritas Press C.I.C. | Multi News Agencies
A Shot Fired At Truth:
Lebanese journalist Mohammad Shehadeh was killed by an Israeli drone strike on Friday, the latest violent breach in what’s supposed to be a ceasefire. But this was no accidental salvo; it was a chilling message: in Lebanon, the act of reporting has become dangerous work.
“The explosion ripped through the car as I fled meters away,” says Nabil Khalaf, a passerby near the Sidon‑Tyr Road. “When I looked again, the window frame was twisted like foil… and there was nothing left of Mohammad.” Khalaf’s voice catches on the words. “He was my neighbour. It was his daily route home.”
Fractured Peace And A Calculated Strike:
The strike came on the heels of a devastating round of Israeli airstrikes in eastern and southern Lebanon, reportedly the deadliest in three weeks. Among those killed: two senior commanders of the PFLP. “Mohammad wanted to show the human side of war,” a friend from Hawana, Lebanon, tells me. “He was brave. Too brave.” His death echoes in digital memorials across social media, with one post reading: “He turned a lens into resistance.”
The Lebanese Health Ministry’s terse statement, “one person killed in an Israeli drone strike on the al‑Zahrani road”, belies the broader implications. It wasn’t just a strike; it was a calculated affront to press freedom.
Ceasefire: A Veneer Of Peace.
Since November 2024, a ceasefire has punctuated the landscape, but it has steadily eroded. Withdrawals did not materialise on schedule, and Israeli forces remain entrenched in five border outposts as of this writing.
Analyst Rami Abi Rached from the Arab Centre for Human Rights calls the strike a “reckless act, fundamentally incompatible with international humanitarian law. Even in war, journalists are protected. This assault on Mohammad Shehadeh isn’t collateral damage, it’s strategic terror.”
A Society Silenced:
On the streets of Nabatieh, the atmosphere is suffocated by grief and fear. Amal Hassan, a local NGO worker, breathes heavily as she recounts the mood. “People whisper now. Cameras are stowed. Safety is the cost of being silent.” A member of the journalists’ union adds, on the condition of anonymity to protect their identity, “We’ve lost count of how many names we’ve called out in vain.”
International organisations have issued rebukes: the Lebanese Journalists Syndicate demanded “international accountability,” while CPJ called the strike “unjustifiable,” asserting unequivocally: “journalists are civilians, not combatants.”
Self-Destruction Of State Authority:
Paradoxically, this targeted killing arrives amid deep domestic fissures over a U.S.-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah. When Shiite ministers, representing Hezbollah, Amal, and independent MP Fadi Makki, stormed out of a Cabinet session, they decried the move as “caving to foreign agendas,” a sentiment echoed by Hezbollah spokesperson Shadi Shams: “No agreement will override our people’s right to defend themselves.”
In the background, a troubling chorus lingers: rallying under a “One Nation, One Army” slogan, the Lebanese state risks undermining its own coherence by ignoring the security uncertainties still posed by Israeli actions.
Media and the Public, Under Assault:
Just hours after Shehadeh’s killing, a Lebanese press-monitoring centre, Media Defenders, released a statement: “This is not wartime ethics in action; it’s the erosion of democratic norms. Targeting journalists is the beginning of erasing collective memory.”
Eyewitness Samir Abdullah, a school teacher who saw the strike unfolding, broke into tears as he described the scene: “He was just driving. And then… nothing. Only dust and silence.”
Conclusion: A Drone Strike On The Truth!
Mohammad Shehadeh’s killing was not an accident. It was a signal, a calculated act in a broader strategy that weaponises impunity and targets the messengers as much as the message itself. As Israeli drones continue to prowl Lebanon’s southern skies, striking journalists, aid convoys, and alleged militants alike, the ceasefire lies in tatters. Official silence and selective outrage only deepen the complicity.
This was not merely a breach of the truce. It was an extrajudicial assassination committed under the pretext of security, one that further exposes Israel’s ongoing war on the freedom of the press. And Shehadeh is far from the first victim.
The death of Mohammad Shehadeh fits a well-established pattern: journalists covering Israeli military operations, especially those exposing the human cost, are treated not as observers but as enemies. This pattern is not the result of individual mistakes but a deliberate policy of deterrence through elimination.
With each journalist killed and each newsroom destroyed, the scope for independent truth-telling narrows. And with every investigation closed without accountability, Israel sends the same message: truth is a target, and those who seek it will pay the price.
In Gaza and across occupied Palestine, Israeli forces have relentlessly targeted journalists, killing, maiming, and silencing them in staggering numbers. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 2023 alone, making it the deadliest period for journalists in any conflict in modern history. Photojournalists were shot while wearing press vests. Reporters were bombed alongside their families. Media towers were reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds.
“Israel is not just killing journalists,” said one Gaza-based reporter, speaking anonymously after surviving an airstrike. “It’s trying to kill journalism.”
The killing of Shehadeh on Lebanese soil expands this assault beyond Gaza. It underscores a clear pattern: journalists documenting Israeli aggression, whether Palestinian, Lebanese, or international, are not just collateral damage. They are targets.
This is not the behaviour of a state acting in self-defence. It is the hallmark of a regime that views truth as a threat and those who expose it as enemies to be eliminated.
Lebanon’s fractured political elite, meanwhile, is engaged in internal theatre, debating foreign-imposed disarmament plans while failing to secure the lives of its own civilians. By endorsing the U.S.-backed ‘One Army’ initiative without conditions, the Lebanese Cabinet may have sacrificed sovereignty under the illusion of stability. But stability is not forged by coercion. It is not delivered through airstrikes. And it cannot be imposed by a foreign power that remains the military and diplomatic patron of the very state violating the ceasefire.
In the streets of Nabatieh, the wreckage of Shehadeh’s car lies alongside the wreckage of any pretence that this conflict is winding down. The sound of drones overhead continues to remind southern Lebanon that war has never left.
The questions now are sharper: Who controls the skies, and who controls the narrative? What is the value of press freedom when journalists are bombed in their cars and homes? How long will the international community watch from afar, issuing statements instead of consequences?
If the killing of Shehadeh marks anything, it is the quiet death of illusions. That journalists are protected. That ceasefires are honoured. That diplomacy alone can contain an occupation-turned-proxy war. What remains is resistance, by the people, by the press, and by those who still believe that truth, however endangered, cannot be erased by a missile.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Israel is the deadliest country in the world for journalists since October 2023. As of August 2025, more than 107 journalists and media workers, the vast majority of them Palestinian, have been killed in Gaza alone during Israel’s military campaign.
Notable Cases:
Shireen Abu Akleh – Al Jazeera (2022):
One of the most high-profile cases was the killing of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022. She was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while covering a raid in Jenin, despite wearing a clearly marked press vest. Multiple investigations by the UN, CNN, The New York Times, and Forensic Architecture concluded she was deliberately targeted. Israel denied intentional responsibility and closed its investigation without charges.
“Shireen was the voice of Palestine. Killing her was meant to silence all of us,” said fellow journalist Dalia Hatuqa.
Yaser Murtaja – Ain Media (2018):
Murtaja, a freelance photojournalist, was shot by an Israeli sniper while covering the Great March of Return protests in Gaza in April 2018. He was wearing a press vest and standing far from the border fence when he was hit. He later died from his wounds.
“They saw the vest. They aimed anyway,” said a colleague who witnessed the incident.
Gaza Media Tower Bombings (2021 & 2023):
During the May 2021 and October 2023 escalations, Israeli warplanes bombed multiple high-rise towers in Gaza that housed media outlets, including Al Jazeera, AP, Palestine Today, and several local agencies. The Jalaa Tower, which housed 20+ media and civil society offices, was completely destroyed after a “warning shot.” Journalists were forced to evacuate minutes before the airstrike.
“This was not about Hamas, it was about eliminating the documentation of their crimes,” said Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza.
Targeting of Journalists’ Families (2023–2025):
Israel has also killed journalists’ families in targeted strikes, even when journalists themselves were not present. In December 2023, Al-Aqsa TV’s reporter Mohammed Abu Hatab was killed along with his wife, son, and extended family in Khan Younis. Dozens of journalists have reported losing multiple family members in airstrikes on their homes.
“They are trying to make journalism a death sentence,” said one anonymous reporter.
Israel has frequently accused Palestinian journalists of being members of “terrorist organisations” without providing credible evidence. In several cases, journalists killed were later smeared posthumously as “media operatives” or “Hamas affiliates,” a tactic condemned by rights groups as retroactive justification of war crimes.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has filed multiple cases with the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging that Israeli forces are carrying out deliberate, systematic targeting of journalists, which constitutes a war crime under international law.
“Israel is not just silencing voices, it’s annihilating an entire profession in Gaza,” said RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire.
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