US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says Israel is bombing international media so the world can’t see its war crimes against the people of Palestine.
“Israel targeting media sources is so the world can’t see Israel’s war crimes led by the apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu. It’s so the world can’t see the killing of babies, children, and their parents. It’s so the world can’t see Palestinians being massacred,” she tweeted on Saturday.
Tlaib is one of the first two Muslim women elected to the US Congress. The other woman is Ilhan Omar, Minnesota’s Representative, a Muslim of Somali descent.
Criticizing US President Joe Biden’s position at the UN, Omar said on Twitter it is “disgusting and immoral for the US to endorse this violent bloodshed.”
“I don’t know any other time when the US has actively blocked a ceasefire and allowed for civilians to get slaughtered,” Omar said.
Israeli forces launched an airstrike on a building that housed several news organizations, including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera in Gaza City on Saturday, amid the latest round of Israeli aggression in the area. The entire 12-story building collapsed, according to AP.
Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the outrageous attack and “raised concerns” about the safety of journalists in the region but failed to condemn the Israeli regime over its atrocity.
On Saturday night, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke with the president and CEO of The Associated Press, Gary Pruitt.
Blinken reportedly “offered his unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world and noted the indispensability of their reporting in conflict zones.”
“He expressed relief that the Associated Press team on the ground in Gaza remains safe,” according to a readout of the call from spokesperson Ned Price.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for the US to support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas amid escalating Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip.
“Israeli airstrikes that destroyed international media outlets and killed innocent Gaza civilians tell us what we already know: Israel and Hamas must work with negotiators and reach a ceasefire immediately and the US must actively support this effort,” Warren said in a Saturday evening tweet.
The Israeli regime forces said they bombed the building because Hamas has “placed military assets” inside high-rise buildings for intelligence gathering, communication, and other purposes, a claim media outlets have rejected.
Al Jazeera condemned the attack, and called on “all media and human right institutions to join forces” in denouncing the bombing and to hold Israel “accountable.”
AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement that the news outlet was “shocked and horrified” that the Israeli military would target the building.
Earlier on Saturday, Israel launched an airstrike on a refugee camp in the besieged Gaza Strip, killing eight children of a Palestinian family.
Israel has been pounding the blockaded enclave with repeated airstrikes for the past several days.
At least 174 Palestinians, including 47 children and 29 women, have been killed and about 1,000 others injured in Gaza in the Israeli regime’s latest round of aggression that began on Monday.