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Episode 227: The Importance of Seriousness; or, Why Palestinians Can’t Be Witness to Their Own Genocide (Part II)

Added 2025-08-13 20:19:57 +0000 UTC

"Exclusive Look at Life in War-Ravaged Gaza," reads the title for a CNN interview with correspondent Clarissa Ward. "'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid," report Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg for Ha'aretz. "I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It," argues Omer Bartov in The New York Times.

These stories have something in common: they’re vital pieces of journalism about Gaza, or Palestine more broadly, published in Western and Western-aligned outlets. This is, obviously, important. Reporting like this keeps Western audiences informed about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, fortifies sympathetic Westerners’ solidarity with Palestine, and serves as an essential counter to the pro-Israel PR machine powering so much other Western media coverage.

But while these pieces have made a splash among their audiences, in many cases, they’re building upon points that Palestinian journalists, writers, and activists had been making weeks, months, even years before. So why is the reporting of Palestinian journalists–especially their reporting on what’s happening within their own country and cities–so often ignored, only to be heeded after it gets the Western stamp of approval

On this episode — our Season 8 finale and also the second part of our two-part series on “The Importance of Seriousness, or Why Palestinians Can’t Be Witness to Their Own Genocide” — we explore the discrepancies in the alleged credibility between Western and Israeli journalists and Palestinian and other Arab journalists, especially when it comes to reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We’ll look at how, by Western standards, journalists don’t seem to build legitimacy by being correct, so much as by being in close proximity to the political and media establishments.

Our guest is writer and organizer Kaleem Hawa.

Guest

Kaleem Hawa is a writer and organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement. Kaleem’s writing on art, film, literature and culture has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Nation, People’s Dispatch, Artforum, The Baffler, Jewish Currents, and elsewhere.

From August 29 to 31, 2025, Palestinian Youth Movement is convening The People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan, providing critical analysis on Palestine, the region, and North America.

Show Notes

Zionism is the catastrophe

Kaleem Hawa | May 16, 2024 | People's Dispatch

Red Lines: Retaliation in the Media Industry during the War on Gaza

May 2, 2024 | National Writers Union

Permission to narrate

Edward Said | February 16, 1984 | London Review of Books

Here are the names of the journalists Israel killed in Gaza

Marium Ali and Hanna Duggal | August 11, 2025 | Al Jazeera

Killing of Al Jazeera journalists is '100% a war crime', CPJ Regional Director says

Mark Owen | August 11, 2025 | France24

Anas al-Sharif among four Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza

Staff | August 10, 2025 | Al Jazeera

Israel’s Gaza War Is One of History’s Worst Crimes Ever

Branko Marcetic | August 5, 2025 | Jacobin

Who Says Israel Is Committing a Genocide in Gaza? Everyone on This List

Prem Thakker and Zeteo | July 29, 2025 | Zeteo

I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

Omer Bartov | July 15, 2025 | The New York Times

'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid

Nir Hasson, Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg | June 27, 2025 | Ha'aretz

In an age of abundance and ceasefires, Gaza starves, and the war won’t stop

Maram Humaid | June 27, 2025 | Al Jazeera

I’m in northern Gaza. I would rather starve than take GHF aid

Eman Hillis | June 25, 2025 | Al Jazeera

In Gaza you can choose only humiliation or death

Malak Hijazi | June 17, 2025 | Electronic Intifada

Israel's controversial aid plan for Gaza revealed in new document

Dania Akkad | May 8, 2025 | Middle East Eye

War in Gaza the ‘Worst Ever Conflict for Reporters’

John Haltiwanger | April 1, 2025 | Foreign Policy

Israel’s Genocide Has Killed More Journalists Than WWI and WWII Combined: Report

Sharon Zhang | April 1, 2025 | Truthout

The unbearable task of reporting on Gaza while my colleagues get killed around me

Mohammed R. Mhawish | March 30, 2025 | MSNBC

NYT, WSJ Laundering Israel's Obviously Bogus UN "Hamas Links" Story Helped Starve Gaza

Adam Johnson | March 20, 2024 | The Column

Protests and Parody Paper Decry New York Times' Pro-Israel Bias in Gaza Coverage

Brett Wilkins | Mach 15, 2024 | Common Dreams

Silencing Voices: The Plight of Palestinian Journalists Detained by Israeli Occupation during Ongoing Israeli Aggression on Gaza (2023/2024)

January 2024 | Palestinian Journalists Syndicate

CNN Runs Gaza Coverage Past Jerusalem Team Operating Under Shadow of IDF Censor

Daniel Boguslaw | January 4, 2024 | The Intercept

Israel: Starvation Used as Weapon of War in Gaza

December 19, 2023 | Human Rights Watch

Gaza war is deadliest conflict for journalists in over 30 years, press advocates say

Fatima Al-Kassab | December 3, 2023 | NPR

Gaza is ‘running out of time’ UN experts warn, demanding a ceasefire to prevent genocide

November 2, 2023 | United Nations

Another New York Times’ reporter’s son is in the Israeli army

Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz | October 27, 2014 | Mondoweiss

Buckling to Bigotry: The Newseum Dishonors Murdered Palestinian Journalists

Nima Shirazi | May 13, 2013 | Wide Asleep in America

The Newseum’s Decision to Drop Palestinian Journalists from Memorial Prompts Varied Responses

Nima Shirazi | May 17, 2013 | Wide Asleep in America

Eighty-six percent of those killed in Gaza were civilians

Al Mezan Center For Human Rights | January 14, 2009 | Electronic Intifada

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here. You can also find transcripts of past episodes, live shows, Beg-a-Thons, Interviews and News Briefs here.

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