Written by David Collier
Groups like Hezbollah and Hamas systematically exploit the protections of civilian life, operating within communities, misusing protected symbols, and deliberately blurring their identity.
One of the clearest examples of this is the way media protections are abused.
Yet time and again, sections of the media fall back into the same pattern, repeating claims of “journalists killed” with little attempt to test them.
The global media frenzy this week, following Israel’s claim that it had targeted Hezbollah operatives posing as journalists, fits that same familiar pattern.
Here Is What Happened
On 28 March 2026, during the conflict with Hezbollah, Israel struck a vehicle on the Jezzine highway in southern Lebanon, killing the three people inside – Ali Shoeib, Fatima Ftouni and her brother, Mohammed Ftouni.
Israel stated that Shoeib, who worked as a journalist for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar outlet, was in fact a Hezbollah intelligence operative involved in exposing Israeli troop positions and supporting attacks. Israeli media also pointed to Hezbollah links within the Ftouni family.
The Global Media Frenzy
The international response was immediate and intense. Headlines across major outlets led with “three journalists killed”, while press groups condemned the strike as a “war crime”:
Israel’s claim that at least one of those targeted was a Hezbollah operative was downplayed, with coverage instead centring on the narrative of journalists under attack.
This creates a clear divide. On one side are Israeli intelligence assessments, based on sustained operations against Hezbollah’s leadership and infrastructure. On the other is a media ecosystem that has, time and again, repeated claims originating from within terrorist propaganda networks with limited scrutiny.
It is one thing to argue that Israel has not publicly provided evidence. Israel is under no obligation to do so. It is quite another to promote a story presenting those killed as journalists, cast doubt on Israel’s account, and ignore publicly available material that suggests those claims may have merit. That is no longer journalism. It is advocacy that chooses to ignore inconvenient facts.
So I went looking for myself. And once again, it did not take long to find material that suggests major outlets had failed to carry out even basic checks before amplifying the “innocent journalists killed” story.
Read the rest of the post, here.
BBC are liars. Just like Bowen this morning on the 9 April 2026 Today program stating Israel has accepted including Lebanon in the Iran/USA ceasefire package when the President of the USA said last night that Lebanon was NOT included. Bowen also claimed he had met Hezbollah leaders many times – this shows that Bowen and his employer were and are the propaganda mouth piece of Hezbollah