Palestinian Journalists: Top Priority Is ‘loyalty To Martyrs’

The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate announced during a May 23 meeting in Ramallah that the predominant concern of Palestinian journalists is loyalty to “martyrs,” i.e. terrorists, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported on June 5.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) is an Israel-based, non-government organization that describes itself as a non-profit “research institute known internationally for its in-depth research of Palestinian society from a broad range of perspectives.”

“PMW is the organization that uncovered and notified donor countries that the Palestinian Authority rewards terrorism by paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and money to the families of terrorist “Martyrs” totaling hundreds of millions of dollars every year. PMW’s research led to the US Taylor Force Act and Israel’s “Anti-Pay-for-Slay” law and impacted funding policies in a multitude of countries.” Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Baz made the statement on the official P.A. TV news. “Today we [the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate General Congress] are sending a message that the top priority of the Palestinian journalist is loyalty to all the martyrs, loyalty to our people’s just cause.”

Palestinian gunmen from the Jenin battalion and the Islamic Jihad movement carry pictures of Palestinian martyrs, who were killed during the clashes with the Israeli army, during a military parade marking the 35th anniversary of the founding of Islamic Jihad movement surround movement, in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. (Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

 

PMW, known as a media watchdog group, said the declaration of loyalty to terrorism echoed a statement to Palestinian journalists by P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas’s representative and general supervisor of the official media, Ahmad Assaf, who on Jan. 30 told journalists that countering Zionism is their chief goal.

“In the eyes of his honor the president, you are the homeland’s soldiers defending the Palestinian national narrative against the Zionist narrative,” Assaf told the press.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas attends an official ceremony to mark the Egyptian National Day on July 27, 2015, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (Photo by ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

Similarly, statements by a host on P.A. TV on Jan. 6 confirmed that P.A. journalists place their “national obligations” before their professional ones.

When Alaa Sharbati, son of terrorist prisoner Ayman Sharbati, thanked a news host for having him on, the host replied, “No, this is our duty.”

“Our national duty comes before [our] professional [duty],” said the host of P.A. TV’s  “Good Morning Jerusalem” program. 

“You are the homeland’s TV channel of which we are proud,” Alaa Sharbati said. 

Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate

Edited by Jessi Rexroad Shull and Kyana Jeanin Rubinfeld