Israel has killed the last remaining Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza.

Israel has killed nearly 270 journalists and media workers in the last 22 months.

Brown University’s Costs of War project has concluded that more journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023, than in the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined. As someone who works for a newspaper (I wouldn’t claim that my “Conversation with an Artist” interviews make me a journalist) I find this horrifying.

Setting aside the fact that deliberately killing journalists is officially a war crime, the murder of journalists is a cruelly effective way to stop the flow of information coming out of the Gaza Strip. In a statement, Amnesty International said: “Israel isn’t just assassinating journalists but attacking journalism itself by preventing the documentation of genocide.”

I’ve said it before — If they’ll do it with you, they’ll do it to you — and we are unfortunately seeing this borne out in real time. As the National Guard prepares to occupy the capital of this country amid fierce resistance from the citizens of D.C., I shudder to think about what is going to happen to journalists in the United States who dare to report the truth.

Journalism is a crucial check on power in all its forms. By reporting on communities, investigating and reporting on the actions of our government officials, local businesses, institutions, and influential people in our towns, it holds them accountable to the public. How will journalists who dare to report the truth, both ugly and beautiful, be treated in our new reality?

Sepi Alavi

Weybridge