Barry Malone: When Israel decides to silence the 'voice' of Palestinians

Many Western journalists do not regard Palestinian journalists as colleagues and that’s why those reporting from Gaza can be killed by Israel with impunity, writes Barry Malone

Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who was killed alongside other journalists in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on August 10. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

Anas al-Sharif was a born storyteller with an innate sense of the dramatic. I’ll never forget watching him live on air from Gaza just after a ceasefire, which wasn’t to last, was announced in January 2024 after more than a year of relentless horror.

A crowd had gathered as he stood in front of the camera, preparing to talk to tens of millions of Al Jazeera viewers across the Arab world, ready to convey the mixture of happiness, relief, and very cautious optimism people were feeling now that the bombs would stop raining down on Gaza. Another journalist stood weeping to his right.