We’d kill journalists, if we could

Doesn’t this Israeli spokesman‘s words remind you of something an official would say in a charming place, like, say, Zimbabwe?

Plans to allow journalists into Gaza were aborted yesterday after Israel’s military said it was too dangerous to keep staff at the Erez passenger terminal to allow people to cross into the besieged territory.

Israel argues that excluding the international media from Gaza is helpful because foreign journalists are unethical and biased in their reporting.

Foreign journalists are “unprofessional” and take “questionable reports at face value without checking”, said Danny Seaman, who heads Israel’s government press office, which vets and issues permits to foreign correspondents.

Seaman said it was not Israel’s responsibility to give foreign media access to Gaza. “They should have been there in the first place,” before Israel began restricting access on 6 November, said Seaman. “We are not going to endanger the lives of our people just to let journalists in.”

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