Abby Zimet: Until Our Last Breath

Israel has murdered Anas Al-Sharif, 28, a steadfast, well-known Al Jazeera correspondent called “the voice of Gaza to the world,” in a targeted strike in Gaza City that also killed four other journalists. Long threatened by Israel for his relentless coverage of Israeli atrocities, Al-Sharif vowed to continue “every day and every hour to report what is happening – this is our cause.” In a last message, Al-Sharif wrote, “I lived pain in all its details and I tasted loss and grief time and again…Do not forget Gaza.”

Al-Sharif was among five Al Jazeera journalists killed in a clearly targeted strike on a tent housing them outside the main gate of al-Shifa Hospital late Sunday. The other victims were Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. In his last post before his death, al-Sharif said Israel had launched intense bombing, called “fire belts,” on Gaza City; his final video showed the sky lit by orange flashes as loud booms sounded.

Calling Al-Sharif “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists” – and one of the most prominent with over half a million followers online – Al Jazeera said he and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza “conveying its tragic reality to the world.” It accused Israel of waging a “campaign of incitement” against its journalists by repeatedly fabricating evidence seeking to link them to Hamas; in the last 22 months, the Israeli military has killed over 230 journalists, including multiple ones from Al Jazeera.

A U.N. rapporteur had earlier cited Israel’s “repeated threats and accusations” against Al-Sharif, arguing, “Fears for (his) safety are well-founded.” Last month, Israel claimed it had “unequivocal proof” he was a member of Hamas, and on Sunday they admitted to a deliberate strike against Al-Sharif, “the head of a terrorist cell.” Colleagues dismissed the claim as propaganda, with “zero evidence” to support it. Said a colleague of Al-Sharif’s: “His entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening.”

Other journalists also charge Israel is waging “a deliberate war on journalists” purely for their willingness to risk their lives to document Israel’s genocidal crimes, from mass bombardment to mass starvation. “Israel’s strategy is clear: Silence the truth by murdering those who report it,” said The Palestine Chronicle‘s Ramzi Baroud, who mourned having to lose so many journalists solely for their “commitment to the truth.” Still, he insisted, “Their deaths will not bury the Palestinian story.”

Al-Sharif had earlier written that, “despite all (the) difficulties and tragic circumstances” he and his colleagues had faced over the last brutal year and a half, he held to his belief that “it is the duty of the world to see and witness what we are documenting…This drives us to continue in our coverage to our last breath.” Still, he knew death likely awaited. “This is my will and final message,” he wrote in April. “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”

“First, peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you,” he wrote in the translated post published by his family. “God knows I have given all my effort and strength to be a support and a voice for my people since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia Refugee Camp. My hope was that God would grant me life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original town of Ashkelon (Al-Majdal), now occupied. But God’s will was swifter, and His judgment is inevitable.”

Berating “those who remained silent, who accepted our killing,” he goes on to entrust those reading “with Palestine, the jewel of the Muslim crown and the heartbeat of every free person in this world…with its people and its innocent children who were not granted a lifetime to dream or live in safety and peace,” and with his wife and two children he did not live to see grow. “I die steadfast in my principles,” he writes. “Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for mercy for me, for I have kept my promise…Do not forget Gaza.” 

“I lost my voice screaming, ‘Massacre, massacre,’ hoping that the world takes action. But it is an unjust world.” – Anas Jamal Al-Sharif

First published in Common Dreams. Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely. 

Abby Zimet has written CD’s Further column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, she moved to the Maine woods in the early 70s, where she spent a dozen years building a house, hauling water and writing before moving to Portland. Having come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has long been involved in women’s, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues.